Deployment Psychology - 9781433808814

The impact of combat on service members' mental health has received considerable attention both in the popular press and in scholarly publications. Yet few books have focused on evidence-based efforts to prevent mental health problems and enhance service members' well-being and resilience.

In this book, leading clinicians and researchers do just that by examining how military organizations can best moderate the negative impact of combat through individual screening, training, peer support, leadership, and organizational policies. The editors promote a broad occupational health model of prevention and include the latest research on delivering mental health services in predeployment, in-theater settings, and VA hospitals. The psychological health not only of service members but also of military families is approached as an integral aspect of deployment psychology. The result is a groundbreaking book that emphasizes what is knownùand not knownùabout evidence-based interventions. It represents the first comprehensive review of mental health interventions across the deployment cycle and will help guide the field of military psychology in developing a much-needed support system for service members.

Amy B. Adler, PhD, is a clinical research psychologist and chief of science at the U.S. Army Medical Research UnitûEurope, Walter Reed Army Institute for Research. She is the manager of the army's medical research on psychological resilience training and has led several of the army's studies on psychological resilience training. Besides serving as a U.S. representative on NATO research groups, Dr. Adler has provided consultation to militaries in several other nations. She has published more than 40 journal articles as well as numerous book chapters and has coedited five books, including the series Military Life: The Psychology of Serving in Peace and Combat.

Paul D. Bliese, PhD, is the director of the Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Silver Spring, Maryland. Dr. Bliese has served as the commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research UnitûEurope, located in Heidelberg, Germany, and as the chief of the Department of Military Psychiatry at WRAIR. In 2005, 2007, and 2009, he deployed to Iraq as part of the annual Mental Health Advisory Team. Dr. Bliese has published numerous scientific articles, has developed and maintains the multilevel library for the open-source statistical language R, and serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Applied Psychology. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Society and a colonel in the U.S. Army.

Carl Andrew Castro, PhD, is director of the Military Operational Medicine Research Program at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command at Fort Detrick, Maryland. He was the original author and developer of the Battlemind Training System, the U.S. Army's resilience training program. His operational experience includes tours of duty in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq. In 2003 and 2006, he deployed to Iraq as part of the annual Mental Health Advisory Team. Dr. Castro has published more than 60 scientific articles and has served as coeditor of the four-volume series Military Life: The Psychology of Serving in Peace and Combat. He also leads several NATO research groups and other international activities. He is a colonel in the U.S. Army.