Veteran's Treatment Court Case Essay

The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) began in the year 2003 after many veterans and their friends discovered the necessity to send items of comfort to service members who are wounded and coming back home from Iraq and Afghanistan. From that time, the WWP has developed into a full rehabilitative effort to help warriors as they shift back into a life of a civilian. Using an approach that is holistic, the WWP serves soldiers as well as their families through nurturing the body and mind, and promoting economic engagement as well as empowerment. Through this, service is offered to service members and veterans who sustained a mental or physical injury, sickness, or wound at the time their military service on the 11th of September 2001 or after that date.

1. I chose to cover special veterans’ courts for this paper. This court was created back in 2008 in Buffalo, New York. It was created by Judge Robert Russell in an effort to help veterans who have broken the law due to the adverse psychological and emotional effects that military service can have upon a service member. Some veterans, after undergoing various combat situations, being cut off from family and friends, and other hardships associated with being in the military, are not able to properly assimilate back into civilian life, if at all. They may resort to drug use or alcoholism to cope, and/or act out in other ways as well. In the various articles of this kind of court I’ve read, courts usually require that the veteran’s offense

Veteran’s Courts are special courts for veterans who are diagnosed with service related illnesses. These courts are for minor offenses that happen as a result from the veteran’s illness caused by their time served in the United States military. The goal of Veteran’s Courts is to give them an alternative option where they will receive treatment and help instead of taking their case to the traditional justice system, where their underlying causes will not be recognized.

“An Iraq veteran with a history of addiction was found dead on the floor of his room in a VA, he was given a 30 day supply of ant-anxiety medication and a 15 day supply of methadone (Glantz, A, 2014).” “A veteran shot himself in the head in a VA psych ward in Minnesota and a delusional veteran jumped off the roof of a Portland (Glantz, 2014).” Glantz (2014) reported that while in a locked psychiatric unit a veteran had overdosed on morphine. A 31-year-old Iraq veteran that was denied a PTSD rating shot himself, leaving three kids and a wife, “three months after his death the VA reversed itself, saying it was clearly and unmistakably in error (Glantz, 2014).” “Independent legal analysts say the nearly 1000 wrongful death payments in the decade after 9/11 represent a small percentage of the veterans who died because of malpractice by the Department of Veterans Affairs (Glantz, 2014).” Glantz (2014) reported that unlike in

The mission statement of the VA Social Workers is to eliminate significant barriers to clients in need and offer interventions for veterans and families. It is accomplished by developing and maintaining integrated, in-depth programs in patient care, research, and education (Hoffer, Elizabeth. F., Dekle, Judith. Ward., & Sheets, Carol., 2014). Its proposed 11 percent to 20 percent of Iraq, Afghanistan veterans as well as 30 percent of Vietnam vets encounter (PTSD) posttraumatic stress disorder traumatic incidents like combat can lead to PTSD, military sexual trauma of military service member, and veterans may possibly deal with depression, anxiety in addition to other mental health concerns. Vets distress from these mental health and cognitive

Rates of trauma and mental illness are reported to be disproportionately higher among American veterans, especially those of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The barriers to care after civilian reentry further disadvantage this already vulnerable population. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been the longest sustained US military operations since the Vietnam era, sending more than 2.2 million troops into battle and resulting in more than 6,600 deaths and 48,000 injuries. Veterans are at risk mental health challenges, as well as family instability, elevated rates of homelessness, and joblessness. Veterans have disproportionate rates of mental illness, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse disorders, depression, anxiety, and military sexual trauma.

Many veterans are unable to leave behind the trauma of Vietnam and psychologically return home. They struggle with a variety of extremely severe problems that neither they nor their families, friends, or communities knew how to understand

Integrated treatment programs along with evidence supporting its effectiveness are later brought up in this article, along with recent policy changes from the Department of Veteran Affairs predicting future positive outcomes of PTSD/SUD treatment.

The VA runs the largest substance use disorder treatment program in the world. Treatment of veterans with SUDs and co-occurring psychiatric disorders is one of the following three paradigms; parallel, sequential, and integrated. Most VA programs are parallel, where the patient receives treatment for SUD in one program and treatment for PTSD in another. Many SUD-PTSD veterans may be unable to navigate the separate systems or make sense of the disparate messages about PTSD treatment and recovery. One challenge to dissemination and implementation of EBTs is that of dual disorders, particularly SUD and PTSD. These patients use costly inpatient services, tend to have frequent relapses, and are less likely to adhere to or complete treatment.

Veterans are everywhere throughout the United States, but just because they are everywhere, doesn’t meant they are getting the proper care. According to the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans of America, “One in three veterans return home and suffer from some sort of mental health issue.” Their mental health issues vary from post traumatic stress disorder to anxiety and depression. The switch from fighting everyday to being home is tough for the veterans and they need to receive the proper treatment so they can possibly live a life as normal as possible. The state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, started a $810,000 program to support these veterans with their issues returning home. The transition is hard, not

No military in the history of the world has been more widely deployed than the United States. The United States currently has troops stationed in 150 countries, and each year thousands of American citizens are sent abroad for active duty. However, the mental health of veterans are not taken into consideration when they return home. Many have been exposed to prolonged periods of combat-related stress or traumatic events that can lead to severe disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and traumatic brain injury (TBI)—which can plague veterans for the rest of their lives. Groups such as the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America are advocating for change due to the high suicide rates of veterans who are not receiving adequate help for their conditions. It is estimated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that 22 veterans commit suicide every day after a long struggle with the physical and mental tolls of war. However, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been insufficiently handling with the current numbers of veterans with mental health conditions— which is a key element of this issue. To deal with this problem, President Obama signed a bill this past March to allow greater access of mental health care for veterans. The bill is aimed at suicide prevention by simplifying the health care process, as well as by collaborating with nonprofit mental health organizations to effectively reach the public. Psychiatry students are also

The issue that has been addressed throughout this study is veteran’s rights. The issue of veteran’s rights is still being pursued and is near and dear to me. Not only am I a veteran, but I come from a long line of men and women who have proudly worn the uniform in defense of our nation. Between the mindset of the American public, to the cases presented before Congress, this is an ongoing dilemma. Caring for our brothers and sisters in arms is the socially responsible thing to do. However, many roadblocks must be torn down before this can come to fruition.

There has been an increase in veterans, approximately 107,000 whom are unemployed and homeless, while 1.5 million veterans are poverty and homeless. These veterans live in various dismal conditions suffering from disorders while lacking social support. (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans) This epidemic attracts the attention of politicians, sociologists, etc. whom are unconcerned with the fate of veterans in America. Professor Tull, insisted that to resolve the problem, he argued that the main reason for homelessness was that the veterans had PTSD which had negative influences. (Tull) This reason is that the PTSD should be treated with various ways, such as cognitive-behavioral treatment, which unfortunately some veterans can’t handle

Today, hundreds of thousands of service men and women and recent military veterans have seen combat. Many have been shot at, seen their buddies killed, or witnessed death up close. These are types of events that can lead to Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder ("Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD: A Growing Epidemic. “) Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event can be diagnosed with PTSD but research shows, military men and women are more susceptible to having PTSD (PTSD: A Growing Epidemic.) And, with little help from the US, many Veterans do not get the help they need or get treated for PTSD. Military men and women begin to

Hundreds of thousands of United States veterans are not able to leave the horrors of war on the battlefield (“Forever at War: Veterans Everyday Battles with PTSD” 1). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the reason why these courageous military service members cannot live a normal life when they are discharged. One out of every five military service members on combat tours—about 300,000 so far—return home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. According to the Rand Study, almost half of these cases go untreated because of the disgrace that the military and civil society attach to mental disorders (McGirk 1). The general population of the world has to admit that they have had a nightmare before. Imagine not being able to sleep one