Trauma and Technology: New Tools Teach Veterans, Clinicians about PTSD

The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are developing a host of tools online and on smartphones to help veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. I wrote in today’s Globe about some of the new technologies, including an online treatment program for people with PTSD symptoms and heavy alcohol use designed by Boston researchers.

While researchers look at how to use technology to put more information into the hands of veterans themselves, some are creating new ways of training physicians and other professionals working with veterans. As many as one in five people who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan may have symptoms of PTSD or major depression, according to a 2008 RAND Corporation study. Only about half of the people with symptoms sought mental health care in the year before they were surveyed. Increasingly, veterans are getting care outside of the Veterans Affairs health care system, the report said....