AF’s PTSD Mitigation Plan Questioned

While the Air Force deserves credit for moving forward with programs to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a report by the RAND Corp., a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, questioned their efficacy. Concerns center upon the service’s reliance on information and communication technologies, which the authors state have not been proven to deliver positive results. The RAND report recommended that the Air Force place priority on preventive interventions, which could mitigate problems such as alcoholism and abuse of spouses or partners. Electronic devices are good for keeping lines of communication open between patients and therapists, they concluded. But the Air Force should fine-tune its approach to better analyze results and enhance feedback, for example. And the service should not use information and communication applications to target individuals for “critical incident stress debriefings” or “psychological debriefings.” Morning Muster, a veterans-advocacy blog, first reported the about the RAND study on Oct. 14.