Who cares? Part II: Mortgaging the future of veteran's mental healthcare

At the time of this writing in mid-2012, there has been notable progress in terms of increased opportunities for DoD clinicians to obtain EMDR training and ensuring military beneficiary access to EMDR therapy, however the Military Health System has never researched EMDR since its 1989 inception, a remarkable gaffe given frequent reports of EMDR's effectiveness by military mental health practitioners. Moreover, to date, the Military Health System has spent well-over $400 million in researching PTSD and TBI, but has yet to conduct a single randomized clinical trial (RCT) on EMDR -- despite a decades-long war and an irate Joint Chief of Staff. Meanwhile the lead agency for training and research in Institutional Military Medicine, the DVA's National Center for PTSD, continues its staunch all-out resistance toward EMDR. In fact, despite PTSD research funding increasing from $9.9 million in fiscal year 2005 to $24.5 million in fiscal year 2009, the DVA has refused to fund a single clinical trial on EMDR since 1998. This is entirely mystifying given the significant positive results from the VA's last RCT on EMDR.

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Mark C. Russell

Russell, M. C. (2012, June 18). Who cares? Part II: Mortgaging the future of veteran's mental healthcare. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-c-russell-phd-abpp/who-cares-part-ii-mortgag_b_1588631.html on 6/19/2012