Wounded Times told you resiliency training was a failure, now some psychologists agree

Maybe some reporters and politicians will listen to me now but I doubt it.


DOES COMPREHENSIVE SOLDIER FITNESS WORK?

JUNE 04, 2012
A Call for Retraction
The Army’s Flawed Resilience-Training Study
by STEPHEN SOLDZ and ROY EIDELSON

Ten years of continuous war — characterized by multiple deployments, elusive guerilla adversaries, and occupied populations seemingly more tilted toward resentment than gratitude — have taken a significant toll on US troops. In addition to those who have been killed, physically maimed, or neurologically impaired by combat, many soldiers have experienced debilitating psychological disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Large numbers are on antidepressants and other psychotropic medications, while the suicide rate among troops has risen to alarming levels.

The sobering realities of the psychological effects of war pose a serious challenge for the US military tasked with simultaneously fighting multiple wars and anticipating years of “persistent conflict” ahead. The good news is that key sectors within the military have now identified the mental health of our troops as a major issue that must be addressed. Indeed, in addition to treatment for those suffering psychological impairment, the military leadership is pursuing intervention efforts aimed at preventing such adverse outcomes by increasing soldiers’ psychological resilience to combat exposure. The largest of these new initiatives is the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program, launched in 2009 and based upon the “positive psychology” framework of psychologist Martin Seligman. And that brings us to the bad news: despite the over-hyped claims of CSF’s leading proponents, at this point there is little evidence to suggest that CSF works.
read more here

Since 2008 I've been coming out against this program because it does not work, has reduced the survival rate of the men and women after they survived combat and has left servicemen/women thinking they are mentally weak, thus leaving them with the notion PTSD is their fault! Now it looks like there have been brilliant minds looking at this even longer.

This pretty much sums up what veterans have been telling me since 2008.

Program participants may subsequently take greater risks if they think they have received some form of preventative protection. Participants may suffer from even greater stigma and shame perhaps interfering with help-seeking if after training they fail to effectively handle an adverse event. And the strategies taught may disrupt the participants prior effective coping strategies.

Most people "naturally" respond in a resilient manner when exposed to potentially traumatic events. It cannot be assumed that resilience training will be more helpful than harmful to these individuals.

Scoops picked up on the story too.
Army’s Flawed Resilience-Training Study

Here are some more links to what I posted about this
DOD message has been PTSD is your fault



The $125-million Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Failure

Pentagon has not evaluated PTSD and TBI programs, just repeated them

Repeat Iraq Tours Raise Risk of PTSD, Army Finds
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006; Page A19
U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health........