idea of a new socio-political discourse around veterans’ mental health remains an important one and has
been explored by newer practitioners who are culturally competent in the traumatic neurosis suffered by
veterans.
If military leaders can find a way to open up channels for more frank conversations among service members
about trauma awareness, then there may be a way to reduce traumatic stress within the service. Though
there are many concerned and hardworking psychiatrists, psychologists, and chaplains in the U.S. military,
there is still a stigma around having these conversations. If leaders can find a way to destigmatize some of
these conversations, then the culture around the idea that traumatic stress in the military is something that
cannot be talked about may change. This may serve, at least in the case of the reintegration of American
veterans, to provide the U.S. a culturally appropriate way to bridge that gap.
If civilian practitioners of mental health can become more culturally competent in veterans' issues, by
participating in these conversations, then we will also see a reduction of the cycle of violence as well. This
is a two tiered-approach; one in which stakeholders that can directly influence current and former service
members must be prepared to have these tough and uncomfortable conversations in order to reduce, or
perhaps even halt, the cycle of violence at individual levels and save the lives of the men and women who
have served and those families who have supported them.
Implications.
If a greater cultural change toward better awareness of veterans' trauma is not made by the many
interconnected cultural systems that serve U.S. military veterans and/or other ex-combatants (be they
superiors, civilian and military clinicians, and others), then we will not be able to bridge the civilian military
divide to successfully provide better treatment of veterans' trauma, which will greatly reduce the cycle of
violence in the veterans' community, and ease the difficulty of returning home after war. The proposals
that it would take to reduce the level of violence within armed conflict are beyond my scope. What is within
my means, however, is to advocate for solutions at the personal level within the clinical and social arenas
to create a more open conversation about being aware of one's own trauma if one is a veteran or member
of the military.
Event Description.
This event is based on my own work as a peacebuilder and mental health counselor; the Bradley Stone case
is just one of many I have worked on in the clinic and in the wider community of veterans in the U.S. All
of the research into veterans' trauma I have done is based on the last four years of studying the issue at a
variety of levels.
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“Bradley Stone Cleared by Veterans Affairs Doctor One Week Before Murder, Suicides,” J. Klimas, The
Washington Times, (17 December 2014).
“Forbidden Not To Remember: The Ethical Return to Freud.” J. Minaudo, Actually Lacan, Published by
the Clinical College of Colorado, (2015).
“Intimate Partner Violence Among Military Veterans and Active Duty servicemen.” A. D. Marshall, et al.,
Clinical Psychology Review 25, (2005).
“Ready to Serve: Community-Based Provider Capacity to Deliver Culturally Competent, Quality Mental
Health Care to Veterans and Their Families,” Various Authors, RAND Corporation, (2014).
“Suicides of Young Vets Top Those of Active Duty Troops,” G. Zoroya, USA Today, (10 January 2014).
Lesson Author: Michael McAndrew, MA, Clinical College of Colorado
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