Military Psychologists' Desk Reference 1st Edition

Informative overview of military culture, specific and unique tasks and challenges of military psychology, and treatment considerations. Helpful for the novice and experienced clinician.

The psychological impact of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on our military service members and veterans will be felt for decades to come. In addition, we are still dealing with the aftermath of the First Gulf War, the Vietnam War, and, to some extent the Korean War and WWII. If anything positive has come out of the more recent conflicts, it is a renewed interest in military psychology and an increased willingness of civilian mental health providers to become involved in this challenging area of clinical practice. Although several fine books on various scholarly and applied topics within military psychology have emerged within the last decade, up to now, there has not been a single, one-stop-shopping source to provide quick, practical advice to the busy practitioner. The Military Psychologists' Desk Reference fills that need. By assembling a passel of knowledgeable and experienced authors and paying close attention to format and style, the editors have achieved that rare balance in an edited volume of being both concise and comprehensive. All of the 69 chapters in this book are about 5-6 pages long, and, within them, not a word is wasted. Thus, the busy clinician who needs to find out fast about military trauma, family issues in deployment, operational assistance in interrogation, depression and suicide, traumatic brain injury, aging veterans, military women's issues, or practical techniques of hostage negotiation can literally pull this aptly fatigue-green-colored volume off the shelf and peruse a particular area of interest in the time it takes to suck down a cup of joe. The chapters are grouped into sections, including military history and culture; military psychology specialties and programs; ethical and professional issues; clinical theory, research, and practice; and a section on further resources for understanding the structure, ranking system, and terminology of the different branches of service. Some of the chapters, for example, those on psychological assessment and therapy, will be of broad interest to clinicians who treat military service members, while others, including operational topics related to organizational consulting or working with elite forces, will appeal to psychologists with more specialized spheres of practice. Again, a key feature of this book is that it can be used productively by military psychologists who are active service members as well as civilian psychologists who may just be starting to work with service members and veterans, and who need some quick, pithy, and authoritative advice on a particular topic. The Military Psychologists' Desk Reference will not replace existing volumes on assorted topics within military psychology, but it best serves to summarize and supplement the latest available knowledge. The bibliographies in each bite-sized chapter enable the reader to find more extensive data nourishment on each of the topic areas where this is needed. If you're a mental health clinician who is going to have any contact with military service members and their families, you need this volume close by. For the beginner, it is a clear-sighted introduction to the field of military psychology. For the seasoned soldier doc, it's a great refresher and review.- Laurence Miller, PhD

I didn’t like it