Interview #2
3
My Expert Interview Dr. Vogt: “Important background: I work for the Veterans Health Administration. Our focus is on caring for military personnel who have left military service. Thus, I can speak most knowledgably about what the VA is doing to care for women veterans. Several of the questions you pose below may be better asked of someone who works for the Department of Defense (DoD), who can speak most knowledgably about what DoD is or is not doing with respect military personnel are still in the military. That said, I have tried to point you in the right direction for those questions.” 1) Research Question 1: Are women often denied treatment for PTSD, or are they are being treated with bias when it comes to distributing the medication to those who are experiencing PTSD, but have had not served in combat? Dr. Vogt: There are several relevant issues here. I’m not sure that it is necessarily any harder for VA clinicians to diagnose PTSD in female veterans than male veterans. However, I believe there is some evidence that men are more likely than women to have their application for service-connected medical benefits approved, and therefore, may be more likely to get treatment. In part, this is because documenting the cause of PTSD for female veterans is more complicated than it is for male veterans. Men are more likely than women to experience PTSD as a consequence of combat (because they are more directly exposed to combat), and this is fairly easily documented because men serve in combat roles during deployment. Women’s exposure to trauma usually involves either sexual assault or indirect combat (i.e., exposure to circumstances of combat even though one is not serving in a combat role). This is much harder to document because it can’t be linked to their specific “job” during deployment. I would recommend taking a look at this article to learn more about this issue. Murdoch et al., (2003) Gender Differences in Service Connection for PTSD, Medical Care, 41, 950-961.
Transcript of Interview #2
My Expert Interview
Dr. Vogt: “Important background: I work for the Veterans Health Administration. Our focus is on caring for military personnel who have left military service. Thus, I can speak most knowledgably about what the VA is doing to care for women veterans. Several of the questions you pose below may be better asked of someone who works for the Department of Defense (DoD), who can speak most knowledgably about what DoD is or is not doing with respect military personnel are still in the military. That said, I have tried to point you in the right direction for those questions.”
1) Research Question 1: Are women often denied treatment for PTSD, or are they are being treated with bias when it comes to distributing the medication to those who are experiencing PTSD, but have had not served in combat?
Dr. Vogt: There are several relevant issues here. I’m not sure that it is necessarily any harder for VA clinicians to diagnose PTSD in female veterans than male veterans. However, I believe there is some evidence that men are more likely than women to have their application for service-connected medical benefits approved, and therefore, may be more likely to get treatment. In part, this is because documenting the cause of PTSD for female veterans is more complicated than it is for male veterans. Men are more likely than women to experience PTSD as a consequence of combat (because they are more directly exposed to combat), and this is fairly easily documented because men serve in combat roles during deployment. Women’s exposure to trauma usually involves either sexual assault or indirect combat (i.e., exposure to circumstances of combat even though one is not serving in a combat role). This is much harder to document because it can’t be linked to their specific “job” during deployment. I would recommend taking a look at this article to learn more about this issue.
Murdoch et al., (2003) Gender Differences in Service Connection for PTSD, Medical Care, 41, 950-961. 2) Research Question 2: What are some of the updates since this article has been written? I would recommend reading this article. It provides a nice summary of the issues for the latest generation of women in the military.
Dr. Vogt: Street, A. E., Vogt, D., & Dutra, L. (2009). A new generation of women veterans: Stressors faced by women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 685-694.
3) Research Question 3: Are the women given proper training mentally and emotionally before they are sent off to serve?
Dr. Vogt: Because I don’t work for DoD, I’m not very knowledgeable about what DoD does to prepare women (and men) for deployment. However, I do know that DoD provides extensive training to both men and women, and offer a number of educational programs to enhance their ability to manage the stress of deployment. For an example of some of the programs they offer, I would recommend checking out the website: https://www.resilience.army.mil/4) Research Question 4: What is our government currently doing to prevent the high number of
women veterans from having PTSD?
Dr. Vogt: As a VA employee, our focus is on treating PTSD, not preventing PTSD. The VA is very committed to treating PTSD, so as to reduce the number of women and men who end up having chronic PTSD. The VA has been working hard over the last few years to increase resources available to treat PTSD (e.g., hiring more clinicians, increasing outreach to veterans, funding research to better understand which treatments work best for PTSD). For a description of some of the things VA is doing to care for returning Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans, I would recommend checking out this website: http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/OEFOIF/index.asp
5) Research Question 5: Has the number of women who have symptoms of PTSD decreased or increased over the last decade. If so, why?
Dr. Vogt: The number of female veterans with PTSD has increased over the last decade because of the deployments to OEF and OIF. One of the strongest risk factors for PTSD is combat exposure, and thus, anytime the U.S. is at war, rates of PTSD will increase among military personnel.
6) Research Question 6: What is the government currently doing to prevent women from experiencing sexual trauma such as assaults and rapes during their time while serving?
Dr. Vogt: I can’t speak to this myself, but I would recommend checking out www.SAPR.mil, where you should find some useful information on what DoD is doing to try to prevent sexual trauma in the military.
![Changes to Wingmakers Interview 2 · Changes to WingMakers Interview Two LEGEND: Words deleted / [Words inserted] Second Interview of Dr. Anderson [Interview 2] By Anne What follows](https://static.fdocuments.net/doc/165x107/5fa1e8f75a28783f4d66a189/changes-to-wingmakers-interview-2-changes-to-wingmakers-interview-two-legend-words.jpg)
