Healing the warrior: admission of two American Indian war-veteran cohort groups to a specialized inpatient PTSD unit.
The American Lake VA Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Treatment Program provides intensive inpatient treatment for war-related PTSD and associated conditions. As part of a substantial outreach effort to American Indians (AI) in the Northwest U.S., the program significantly modified its admission criteria and treatment to be more clinically and culturally relevant. An all-AI cohort, and then a group that was 50% AI, were admitted. Highlighted are lessons learned regarding: treating "traditional" versus more "assimilated" AI veterans; culture-specific additions of building and utilizing a sweatlodge on the hospital grounds, hiring an AI spiritual leader as a clinical advisor, and promoting attendance at weekend Pow-Wows; the relevance of the "regular" treatment components; and the need for regular debriefings about counter-transference dynamics among staff.
Scurfield
R M
RM
Pacific Center for PTSD, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813, USA.
D015331:Cohort Studies; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003379:Countertransference; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D015205:Northwestern United States; D010343:Patient Admission; D010348:Patient Care Team; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D014744:Vietnam