"For many veterans, returning home marks not resolution but the beginning of a quieter struggle. Despite decades of innovation in trauma-focused therapies and medication, a substantial number continue to live with psychological injuries that existing treatments only partly address. Their trauma is not merely a cluster of symptoms; it is a disruption of identity, moral coherence, and belonging. It reflects lived experience often shaped by early adversity, military culture, and the potentially socially isolating aftermath of service."
"Psychedelic therapies have gained attention because they may offer a way for veterans to engage more fully with traumatic memories while also exploring identity, value, and meaning-dimensions often beyond the reach of conventional care. Preparing for their potential adoption requires more than enthusiasm for new interventions. It calls for deliberate provider training, veteran education, and system-level readiness so that, if approved, these therapies are delivered within ethically grounded and well-coordinated care structures."
Many veterans return home facing a quieter, persistent struggle rather than resolution. Psychological injuries often persist despite decades of trauma-focused therapies and medication. Trauma frequently disrupts identity, moral coherence, and belonging, reflecting cumulative experiences including early adversity, military culture, and socially isolating transitions to civilian life. Help-seeking can feel risky as trauma intertwines with loyalty, responsibility, and self-concept, leading to minimization, solitary coping, or mistrust of clinicians lacking military experience. Conventional treatments may leave emotional flatness and disconnection unaddressed. Psychedelic therapies show promise for engaging traumatic memories and exploring identity, value, and meaning, but require provider training, veteran education, and ethically grounded, coordinated systems.
Read at Psychology Today
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