VA repeating same mistakes the DOD starts

If it worked, the numbers would prove it. How many times do we have to read about veterans suicides? How many times do we have to read about the numbers of veterans calling the Suicide Prevention Hotline going up?

Resiliency training does not work in the military and the numbers prove it. Remember, they get the training before combat but suicides and attempted suicides go up and up. March suicide numbers are highest of the year.

Who had the bright idea that it would work when they become veterans?

VA Psychoeducational Workshop Improves Veterans' Resilience
By: ELIZABETH MECHCATIE, Clinical Psychiatry News Digital Network
ARLINGTON, VA.– A 10-week psychoeducational workshop aimed at increasing resilience in Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans had a significant effect among those who completed the workshop, including those with lower resilience scores at baseline.

However, those with lower baseline resilience scores were also more likely to drop out of the workshop. This finding highlights the potential utility of measuring baseline resilience in veterans as a way to improve retention in time-limited, effective psychotherapeutic intervention programs, especially for participants who are less resilient and have the most to gain from such a program, according to Dr. Matig Mavissakalian of the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.

Characteristics of resilience – a trait that has been associated with optimal coping skills and helping prevent the development and promote recovery of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) –include commitment, dynamism, patience, optimism, faith, altruism, and the ability to show humor when faced with adversity, Dr. Mavissakalian said at the annual conference of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA).

The 10-week psychoeducational program, provided at the Cleveland VAMC, is designed specifically for returning soldiers, to promote the use of resources and increase resilience, with an emphasis on understanding and normalizing stress responses, building on strengths, learning new cognitive skills, and improving family relationships, with some family member involvement and individual counseling.
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