Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to discuss current approaches to screening, diagnosis and management of both TBI and PTSD. Treatment including traditional and complementary evidence based approaches will be discussed.
Methods: Review of the literature and research studies, expertise in subject content.
Results: The recent war conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have created new health problems for many of the soldiers and veterans. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) have become known as the 'invisible wounds of war' because there are no outward signs of these diseases. Currently, there are over 300,00 or 20% of veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan diagnosed with PTSD. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center(2012) currently estimates that approximately 230,000 military personnel have been diagnosed with TBI. TBI is classified into three categories: Mild, Moderate and Severe. Although veterans diagnosed with Severe TBI are often easily identified physically, the majority of the cases (77%) of TBI are considered mild and display no visible wounds. The long term sequelae for both of these diseases, can be devastating to both veterans and their families. To complicate matters, some veterans diagnosed with TBI, also have PTSD, so the impact can be a 'double whammy'. The financial burden of care related to the costs of these two diagnoses reaches approximately $916 billion dollars per year (2008).
Conclusion: Emerging research is demonstrating positive effects and improvement in quality of life factors in the utilization of various complementary modalities to treat treating PTSD and TBI.
Sigma Membership
Alpha Chi
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Literature Review
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injuries, Complementary
Recommended Citation
St. Pierre, Cathy M., "Complementary/integrative approaches to treating "the invisible wounds of war:" Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI)" (2013). INRC (Congress). 175.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2013/presentations_2013/175
Conference Name
24th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Prague, Czech Republic
Conference Year
2013
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Complementary/integrative approaches to treating "the invisible wounds of war:" Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Prague, Czech Republic
Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to discuss current approaches to screening, diagnosis and management of both TBI and PTSD. Treatment including traditional and complementary evidence based approaches will be discussed.
Methods: Review of the literature and research studies, expertise in subject content.
Results: The recent war conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have created new health problems for many of the soldiers and veterans. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) have become known as the 'invisible wounds of war' because there are no outward signs of these diseases. Currently, there are over 300,00 or 20% of veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan diagnosed with PTSD. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center(2012) currently estimates that approximately 230,000 military personnel have been diagnosed with TBI. TBI is classified into three categories: Mild, Moderate and Severe. Although veterans diagnosed with Severe TBI are often easily identified physically, the majority of the cases (77%) of TBI are considered mild and display no visible wounds. The long term sequelae for both of these diseases, can be devastating to both veterans and their families. To complicate matters, some veterans diagnosed with TBI, also have PTSD, so the impact can be a 'double whammy'. The financial burden of care related to the costs of these two diagnoses reaches approximately $916 billion dollars per year (2008).
Conclusion: Emerging research is demonstrating positive effects and improvement in quality of life factors in the utilization of various complementary modalities to treat treating PTSD and TBI.