The most comprehensive and current "do-it-yourself" handbook for veterans

From the author of The Veteran's Survival Guide, The Veteran's PTSD Handbook addresses the obstacles that veterans face when filing for benefits related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One of the greatest obstacles, John Roche writes, is establishing a connection between a veteran's service and PTSD. Because both combat stressors and noncombat stressors can cause PTSD and because of the difficulties in diagnosing the condition, filing a successful claim for benefits based on PTSD is difficult. In the same accessible, self-help style used in The Veteran's Survival Guide, Roche offers detailed instructions on how to prepare a well-grounded claim for veterans' benefits relating to PTSD. He also discusses the four years he spent helping one veteran establish a "service connection" for his PTSD claim with Veterans Affairs. This book will be required reading for any veteran or veteran's dependent who wishes to obtain his or her well-earned benefits and for those officials of veterans' service organizations who assist veterans with their claims.

The Veterans Administration continues to play a central role in providing mental health services, but everyone in the field can do a better job helping those whove served our country. Deborah Y. Liggan, MDwho has succeeded in both civilian and Air Force military serviceexplores the spectrum of mental health illnesses that affect veterans and how each disorder impacts their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Topics focus specifically on veterans and include psychiatric interviewing, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, disorders of cognition, recovery from mental illness, and psychiatric emergencies. With clear and concise language, the guide explores how to respond to complaints such as depression, suicide, and psychotic thought processes. At the conclusion of each chapter are ten study questions of self-examination for review. The Veterans Guide to Psychiatry is the definitive guide for psychiatrist residents, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, and anyone involved in diagnosing and treating emotional illnesses.

The War Comes Home is the first book to systematically document the U.S. government's neglect of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Aaron Glantz, who reported extensively from Iraq during the first three years of this war and has been reporting on the plight of veterans ever since, levels a devastating indictment against the Bush administration for its bald neglect of soldiers and its disingenuous reneging on their benefits. Glantz interviewed more than one hundred recent war veterans, and here he intersperses their haunting first-person accounts with investigations into specific concerns, such as the scandal at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. This timely book does more than provide us with a personal connection to those whose service has cost them so dearly. It compels us to confront how America treats its veterans and to consider what kind of nation deifies its soldiers and then casts them off as damaged goods.

War Trauma draws on the experience of prior wars for valuable insights to help people who are now in the military or in the healing professions, and their families and communities, to deal with todays realities of combat and its aftermath -- which so often entails PTSD (post-traumatic stresss syndrome), depression and the risk of suicide. This is part three in A Vietnam Trilogy, which studies the psychiatric impact of war on soldiers and veterans, and their families. The effects go on for decades after the violence occurred, and we are still just learning to understand the depth and variety of problems it can cause. Further, Scurfield documents his proven innovative therapies for treating PTSD. This third volume looks at what military and mental health professionals -- and the Veterans Administration (VA) -- should have learned from the Vietnam War in order to better protect American servicemen and servicewomen in later conflicts and to help them recover afterwards. The Persian Gulf War, for instance, had an immense impact on veterans of all wars. The author was a national faculty member for joint VA-DOD training programs to enhance mental health response readiness for receiving anticipated medical and psychiatric casualties from the Persian Gulf War. What he found was a resurgence of selective amnesia and denial about the true impact of war. Scurfield notes, "Chillingly, what happened in Vietnam in 1968--69 regarding psychiatric casualties has enormous parallels to what is happening today regarding U.S. psychiatric casualties from the Iraq War."

A comprehensive encyclopedia that describes the experiences of American veterans from the Revolutionary War to the present. From the American Revolution to today's conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Encyclopedia of the Veteran in America captures the experiences and lives of our nation's veterans in a comprehensive, unprecedented way. It is the first major reference work focused exclusively on an American soldier's view of military life during war and the often difficult return to civilian life and peacetime afterward. Encyclopedia of the Veteran in America comprises over 100 insightful entries that include major examinations of the American Revolution, Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Gulf, Afghan, and Iraq Wars, plus brief reviews of other conflicts. In addition, it highlights the specific experiences of POW, MIAs, and their families, as well as African Americans, women, and American Indian soldiers. Additional entries focus on key historic figures like Theodore Roosevelt and General Douglas MacArthur, veterans' organizations like the American Legion and the VFW, legislative initiatives, and the full range of memorials and monuments dedicated to our fighting men and women.

In-depth, timely, and practical coverage of key issues in elder law practice. Written by outstanding elder law experts, this unique publication is the first place to look for detailed answers to pressing questions concerning Medicaid, long-term care planning, healthcare issues, trusts, powers, and guardianship -- every facet of today's elder law practice. Each portfolio has distinctive title and author. The series includes 28 portfolios to date.

Provides current information on more than 5,000 legal topics. Includes completely revised articles covering important issues, biographies, definitions of legal terms and more. Covers such high-profile topics as the Americans with Disabilities Act, capital punishment, domestic violence, gay and lesbian rights, and physician-assisted suicide.