Have your say and help improve veteran mental health treatment

Many veterans feel positively about their military service and their transition to civilian life. Some face significant challenges after transition, including mental health problems. Research in Australia and internationally has been devoted over many years to improving the mental health of veterans, but we need to continue to improve existing treatments and find new treatments, and to do that, we need you to help us.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the signature psychological injury of war, and while effective treatments are available, they do not work for everyone, and the pathway into treatment is rarely simple. Issues can arise at every step, including finding a practitioner with military ‘cultural competence’, engaging in treatment in a timely manner, and remaining in treatment to ensure significant improvement. Beyond PTSD, veterans experience other common mental health issues including sleep disturbances, problem anger, pain, depression and addictive behaviours.

The Centenary of Anzac Centre, an initiative of Phoenix Australia - the Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, is dedicated to achieving better mental health outcomes for veterans. Their mandate is to build a program of research that tackles the unsolved, urgent, and complex problems in veteran mental health, while building collaborative networks to ensure communication and cooperation between researchers, practitioners, and the veteran community across Australia.

Their research so far has focused on:

• New and novel treatments for PTSD

• Better defining what “recovery” from PTSD looks like

• Charting how sleep disturbances interrupt PTSD recovery

• Understanding how employment relates to wellbeing

They are currently looking for volunteers for several veteran research studies, including:

• a study exploring what factors contribute to a veteran choosing or sticking with a particular PTSD treatment, as well as why many choose not to come for treatment. This critical information can help us to understand how treatment can better meet the needs of veterans

• a study designed to understand how everyday thoughts, feelings, and actions might influence problem anger. Using innovative research methods, we are using smartphone technology to investigate the daily factors that contribute to experiences of anger in veterans.

The team of researchers at the Centenary of Anzac Centre are supported by a council of international trauma experts, as well as a Veterans Advisory Committee made up of Defence Force veterans who have experienced and understand mental health conditions. Each group meets four times a year to help guide research studies. The Centenary of Anzac Centre is funded by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and includes a free practitioner service to support and provide advice to mental health professionals working with veterans.

“On behalf of my research team, I want to thank Australia’s veterans for their service, and their families and loved ones for their invaluable support. Seeking ways to improve the mental health and wellbeing of veterans and their family members is of paramount importance to us and we will continue to work hard to improve outcomes for the veteran community,” said Dr Mark Hinton, Director of Centenary of ANZAC Centre.

The centre wants to hear more from veterans and their families from around Australia about which issues matter to them when it comes to mental health and wellbeing. If you want to become involved in the research studies, or let them know what matters most to your mental health and wellbeing, contact us at phoenix-info@unimelb.edu.au or visit www.go.phoenixaustralia.org/the-last-post