STRONG STAR Consortium’s Post

🚨 New Course Launch: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Military Populations 🚨 The Training Institute at Home Base is proud to announce the launch of our latest course, Traumatic Brain Injury: Overview and Clinical Practice Guidelines for Patients with Military Backgrounds. This course is designed for clinical and non-clinical personnel in health service agencies who work with patients affected by TBI, including veterans and active-duty service members. 🧠 What You’ll Learn: Physiological and psychological mechanisms underlying TBI effects. Common medical, psychosocial, and psychiatric comorbidities associated with TBI. Best practices for assessment and management of TBI across all severity levels. The importance of a multidisciplinary approach to treatment. 🎓 Course Details: Presented by: Cyrielle Andrew, PsyD, and Brian Macone, PsyD, Neuropsychologists for Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation & Massachusetts General Hospital Program, and Instructors at Harvard Medical School. Length: 1 hour and 45 minutes

It's no secret that things have gotten tougher for #psychedelicresearchers lately. It also seems pretty clear that it is more important than ever to conduct state-of-the-art #research into #psychedelicmedicine approaches for #mentalhealth if these approaches are ever to cross into mainstream #medicine. The questions that have arisen recently about safety, efficacy, mechanism of action, scalability and practicality of these approaches for conditions like #trauma and #PTSD need to be answered through careful study. With funding agencies not quite ready to make a major investment in this kind of research just yet, even those of us with a strong commitment to pursuing this research have wondered how we will be able to go forward to generate meaningful data. That is why I'm so grateful to the The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation for the game changing support that effectively lit a match in the darkness as my colleagues and I wondered how we would go forward with our agenda of studying #psychedelicassistedtherapy for #veterans and #civilians with PTSD. 🙏 We had built a beautiful space, -- designed and constructed from scratch, two years in the making -- with #optimism and #commitment to careful #science. And last week, we officially opened the space for research. I'll post pictures at a later date of our "setting" and also our ever-growing wonderful team of #clinical and #basic science researchers at The Parsons Research Center for Psychedelic Healing -- our newly named Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This post is an expression of gratitude for the fact that we will be able to continue much of the work we have planned and begun. Here's one picture from our ribbon cutting event last week. Pictured with Mr. and Mrs. Parsons are the Honorable Senator Krysten Sinema (Arizona) and the Honorable Congressman General Jack Bergman (Michigan), who came to show support for psychedelic research. Their support for veterans and civilians suffering from trauma and PTSD, and their desire to see investment in these new modalities designed to help those who suffer from mental health consequences, has been absolutely inspiring to me. 🌱💡 #PsychedelicResearch #Veterans #PTSD #randomizedclinicaltrials #BobandReneeParsonsFoundation #Gratitude #HealingTrauma #MentalHealthMatters

I am grateful to Rachel Yehuda and the Parsons for their commitment to psychedelic science. This extraordinary community of pioneering researchers, philanthropists, advocates and traumatic injury victims work tirelessly to explore how medicines like MDMA create an optimal mental state to catalyze trauma recovery. As a decades-long PTSD sufferer who continues to experience a complete recovery after participating in the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) MAPP2 Phase 3 MDMA clinical trial, I work to raise awareness that psychedelic therapies also effectively address complex traumatic injuries stemming from childhood sexual assault and gender violence. Anyone impacted by #MeToo should tune in as we move toward a paradigm of #MeHealed. As a neuroscientist, Dr. Yehuda translates precisely how these psychedelic compounds activate the mind to be receptive to profound change. Once the mind is opened to a new possibility, guided psychotherapy can result in a massive shift in perspective because trauma victims can finally overcome the default fight or flight response. A gentle nudge over the hill can reset us on the path to recovery. A safe setting is vital while in this altered mental state. Victims can remain stuck in their trauma state if they are reinjured while in their trauma recovery. Let's fully explore how the sources of traumatic injury impact recovery while fully embracing the extraordinary properties of the various psychedelic mechanisms. Support Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), #psychedelicmedicine for #mentalhealth, #traumarecovery, Protea Foundation and humans everywhere who deserve a wide path back from traumatic injury.

I am so excited to announce that after several years of hard work and peer review, my master's thesis has been published with Military Psychology. The project, titled "Should I stay or should I go? An examination of the effects of work and family factors on active-duty and National Guard and Reserve service members’ military career intentions" explores how work, family, and individual well-being all contribute to Soldiers' intentions to stay in or leave military service, and whether those contributions differ among active-duty versus National Guard and Reserve Soldiers. Ultimately, we found that work, family, and well-being simultaneously influence Soldiers' career intentions, and that these contributions were mostly consistent among Soldiers regardless of duty status, with a few exceptions. Namely, unit support and work-family balance were more consequential for active-duty Soldiers' mental health, and consequently their career intentions, than among National Guard and Reserve Soldiers. Unit support was influential of all Soldiers' intentions to remain in the military, but especially so among National Guard and Reserve Soldiers, suggesting that a strong sense of connectedness with fellow unit members may serve as an incentive to continue in the military for those who serve in the National Guard or Reserves. Want to learn more about our findings and what they mean for policy and practice? Find the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ekR8fB5s 

Asrar Qureshi’ Blog Post #1054 is published. Please read it here. https://lnkd.in/dkgqDFfF #asrarqureshi #pharmaveterans #robertkegan #adultdevelopment #impulsivemind #imperialmind #blogpost1054

💡 The BBC article below is worth a read for anyone interested in experimental treatment options for #PTSD, and highlights the challenges facing new treatment modalities. While the current FDA advisory committee's decision regarding MDMA treatment for PTSD may disappoint some, this does NOT indicate a final decision by the FDA. "Despite the meeting's outcome, the experts who the BBC spoke to believe there is still a chance that the FDA will grant approval in August. Emerson also remains hopeful." Global SOF Foundation remains committed to advocating for the responsible research of "new" treatment options, to include psychedelic therapy for #servicemembers and #veterans. This remains one of the three #SOFforLife priorities we shared with policy makers and is included in our 2024 SOF Imperatives document (found at https://lnkd.in/djquFVfj). #sof USSOCOM U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Military Special Operations Family Collaborative

I don't know what you mean when you say "intense" upper extremity (UE) neurorehabilitation. You don't either. During my postdoc, NIH held a workshop on the optimal #intensity and #duration of #strokerehabilitation and - of all things - hip fracture (fodder for another blog). Meanwhile, "top scientists" were churning out trials whose results touted the provision of "intense" #strokerehabilitation. Even today, many scientists hang their hats on programs of "intensive" rehabilitation. Yet, a glaring issue persists: the concept of upper extremity rehabilitative intensity is poorly (or not at all) defined. This ambiguity hinders the development of standardized protocols, creates variability in clinical practice, and ultimately affects patient outcomes... ***Read the rest of this new blog on the ambiguity of so-called "intense" neurorehabilitation below. It's a 2 minute read!

Attention Veterans, Veteran Serving Organizations, and Friends and Family of Veterans My name is Jordan A. Fournier. I am a Doctor of Health Sciences candidate at A.T. Still University. I am currently conducting my doctoral research on veteran lived experiences using complementary and integrative health (CIH) to manage their PTSD symptoms. Expanded explanation of research: The purpose of my study is to document the experiences of U.S. military veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder who use complementary and integrative health to manage their PTSD symptoms. My research will address the current gaps in evidence-based research available on this topic. The ability to expand this research can assist in fundamentally shifting how PTSD and co-occurring disorders are treated, increasing access to complementary and integrative approaches and treatment compliance. This will ultimately improve healthcare outcomes among veterans. Furthermore, addressing the critical pieces currently missing in the literature can bolster evidence to elevate CIH approaches from suggested interventions to recommended treatment options. To do this, I need your help! I am looking for veterans who use one or more complementary or integrative health to help manage and mitigate their symptoms of PTSD to complete a 60-90 minute virtual interview regarding their experiences. Complementary and integrative health approaches can include, but are not limited to, yoga, acupuncture, meditation, and outdoor-based therapy. Documenting these experiences is part of my doctoral research for my Doctor of Health Sciences degree at A.T. Still University. Participation is voluntary. The A.T. Still University Institutional Review Board has approved this study. The final manuscript is intended to be published, but all identities will remain confidential. Together we can document the voices and lived experiences of our veterans. Thank you for your support. If you know anyone who may be interested, please share this post. If you have any questions or would like to connect, please feel free to contact me. #veteran #veteranhealth #veteranhealthcare #PTSD #posttraumaticstressdisorder #complementaryandintegrativehealth #CIH #wholehealth #VeteranAffairs 

We asked Dan Knauss, Psy.D., ABPP, Director of Training, and David Mintz, MD, Director of Psychiatric Education, to answer frequently asked questions about the Austen Riggs Center Fellowship. Here's what they had to say about the benefits of the Fellowship. Watch the entire series and learn more about the Fellowship at https://lnkd.in/ghESKiRM.

Pre-trauma well-being may be linked with reduce risk for probable PTSD, this longitudinal cohort study of US military veterans finds, supporting the growing call for well-being promotion to reduce risk for poor health. https://ja.ma/3YAmIDt