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Virtual Issue - Returning from the Warzone
Returning from the Warzone: Editor’s Introduction
Daniel S. Weiss, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief
This is the first virtual issue of the Journal of Traumatic
Stress, a communication mechanism made possible by the
increasingly rapid and growing presence of scientific publication
online. A virtual issue gathers articles previously published in
the Journal and groups them together. This device dramatically
widens the audience who can learn from and cite the excellent work
authors have created and also puts a set of articles together that
regular readers might not consider as a set.
The theme and publication schedule of the virtual issue, “Returning
from the Warzone,” was chosen to coincide with the removal of
combat troops from Iraq by the U.S. and to call attention to the
issues that attend redeployment. Those who return from the warzone
may leave the service and become veterans, or they may continue
their military service. In either case, there are new challenges
for these military personnel as well as families and friends, and
there are new opportunities to intervene and study this
process.
The set of articles includes all the work published since 2010 in
the Journal that directly addresses issues of homecoming and
includes work on measuring adjustment and community reintegration,
articles on the impact on families, work focusing on some of the
difficulties manifest on redeployment including PTSD, alcohol
problems, health behaviors, and the quest for meaning and
understanding how to integrate the experiences of combat into
current functioning. As well there is work on different groups of
service members and the relationships between their warzone
experience and homecoming, including the process of seeking
services.
It is our hope that the research published in the Journal of
Traumatic Stress can contribute both to the understanding of
what is facing those returning from the warzone as well as
impacting policy and the delivery of services, where needed.
Finally, we hope that this work spurs further research and inquiry
targeted at reducing the burden of homecoming for all involved.
Military
to Civilian Questionnaire: A Measure of Postdeployment Community
Reintegration Difficulty Among Veterans Using Department of
Veterans Affairs Medical Care
Nina A. Sayer, Patricia Frazier, Robert J. Orazem, Maureen
Murdoch, Amy Gravely, Kathleen F. Carlson, Samuel Hintz, and
Siamak Noorbaloochi
Effect
of Transition Home From Combat on Risk-Taking and Health-Related
Behaviors
Amy B. Adler, Thomas W. Britt, Carl Andrew Castro, Dennis
McGurk, and Paul D. Bliese
The
Role of Intimate Relationships, Appraisals of Military Service, and
Gender on the Development of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms
Following Iraq Deployment
Nancy A. Skopp, Mark A. Reger, Greg M. Reger, Matthew C.
Mishkind, Murray Raskind and Gregory A. Gahm
Deployment
Experiences and Postdeployment PTSD Symptoms in National
Guard/Reserve Service Members Serving in Operations Enduring
Freedom and Iraqi Freedom
Keith D. Renshaw
Intimate Relationships Among Returning Soldiers: The Mediating and Moderating Roles of Negative Emotionality, PTSD Symptoms, and Alcohol Problems Laura A. Meis, Christopher R. Erbes, Melissa A. Polusny and Jill S. Compton
Trauma
Centrality and PTSD in Veterans Returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan
Adam D. Brown, Daniel Antonius, Michael Kramer, James C.
Root and William Hirst
Combat-Injured
Service Members and Their Families: The Relationship of Child
Distress and Spouse-Perceived Family Distress and
Disruption
Stephen J. Cozza, Jennifer M. Guimond, Jodi B. A. McKibben, Ryo
S. Chun, Teresa L. Arata-Maiers, Brett Schneider, Alan Maiers,
Carol S. Fullerton and Robert J. Ursano
VA
Mental Health Services Utilization in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans
in the First Year of Receiving New Mental Health
Diagnoses
Karen H. Seal, Shira Maguen, Beth Cohen, Kristian S. Gima,
Thomas J. Metzler, Li Ren, Daniel Bertenthal and Charles R.
Marmar
PTSD
Symptom Increases in Iraq-Deployed Soldiers: Comparison with
Nondeployed Soldiers and Associations with Baseline Symptoms,
Deployment Experiences, and Postdeployment Stress
Jennifer J. Vasterling, Susan P. Proctor, Matthew J. Friedman,
Charles W. Hoge, Timothy Heeren, Lynda A. King and Daniel W.
King