Veterans With PTSD Caught In The System

An unfortunate industry trend on the rise is the number of veterans involved in the criminal justice system – approximately 10 percent of people who are incarcerated at any one time are estimated to be veterans. With many of them suffering from PTSD, mental illnesses or substance abuse problems, several national initiatives and treatment programs have surfaced to help prevent unnecessary incarceration when possible.

One of the biggest trends to surface is the move toward using more evidence-based, recovery oriented treatments instead of the old “psychiatric treatment as usual” model. The VA system has made a concentrated effort to train clinicians in evidence-based therapies for PTSD and other mental disorders. One of the evidence-based treatments is called “Prolonged Exposure Therapy” which was developed by Dr. Edna Foa and others specifically for the treatment of PTSD. Another is Cognitive Processing Therapy. Both treatments include elements of exposure to the traumatic memories but their names really explain what they do.