Soldiers and their families are being offered free access to psychotherapy across the country.
The Soldiers Project is providing confidential psychotherapy to address the growing need for comprehensive mental health care for military personnel and their families and to stop the transmission of trauma to future generations, according to project founder and director Dr. Judith Broder.
“We know that when people are traumatized and it's not treated that the trauma gets carried on to their children and their children's children, but if there's early intervention and treatment then the traumatized person is less likely to be a transmitter,” said Dr. Broder, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. “That's the basic impetus—to get in there early and as intensive as possible, and that's a fundamental difference from the services the VA [Veterans Administration] can provide.
“We see soldiers and their families for as long as they need—sometimes for up to 2½ years—for free.”
Started in 2004 under the aegis of the Los Angeles Institute and Society of Psychoanalytic Studies, The Soldiers Project now has chapters in the cities of Chicago, Seattle, and Sacramento, and in New York, New Jersey, and southern California. At least 350 soldiers or veterans have been treated. Patients access services via the project's Web site (www.thesoldiersproject.org
The project stresses the need for psychological support and education for military families and children, because it can provide a framework for families to understand and talk about deployment, reunions, and transitions during multiple deployments, Dr. Broder said. Soldiers returning home may be changed by combat-related medical conditions or become impatient or withdrawn, while family dynamics can change as children and spouses adapt to fill the void of the missing parent. The uncertainty of whether a soldier will be redeployed is unique to this war and particularly stressful for children and spouses, with many soldiers shutting down as a way to cope with the uncertainty.
If the slow, painstaking work of psychoanalysis, which Sigmund Freud once likened to archaeological excavation, sounds like an odd match for tight-lipped, action-oriented soldiers, Dr. Broder said the approach is actually well suited. She suggests that in some fundamental way the basic character of many of the young men and women who have served has been shattered, and that this type of wound may be difficult to reach by the more widely used cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with its systematic, goal-oriented approach to influencing dysfunctional behaviors and emotions.
In some cases, the volunteer physicians opt to prescribe medication to the returning soldiers. They do this in addition to providing psychotherapy, she said.
The specific credentials of the therapists tend to be less of an issue than the “proximity of the volunteer's office to the referral request and the time availability,” she said.
“We pride ourselves on finding therapists who are close to the people making the request,” she said. “Many of the traumatized veterans cannot drive freeways or be in a car or bus for extended periods, as serving in Iraq often exposed them to hidden explosives or rocket-propelled grenades.”
In addition, the volunteer therapists try to help the soldiers obtain medications through the VA, since the soldiers must pay for the medication out of pocket if they get them privately.
'We see soldiers and their families for as long as they need—sometimes for up to 2½ years—for free.'
Source DR. BRODER