Noteboom The Law Firm

Video Teleconferencing Brings PTSD Counseling to Veterans

November 8, 2010 - It is very likely veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will not get improve their condition without treatment. What usually happens is that those suffering from PTSD try to ignore their symptoms, which only serves to exacerbate the issue. Ideally, people with PTSD would contact a therapist, establish a non-threatening environment, and slowly start addressing the veteran's PTSD. For the tens of thousands of veterans living in more rural settings, therapists able to handle PTSD are not prevalent.

So if you can't bring the veteran to the therapy, you bring the therapy to the veterans. This is the philosophy of Peter Tuerk of the PTSD clinic at the Charleston, S.C. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center. Tuerk has been using videoconferencing systems to reach out to remotely located veterans to bring therapy directly to them. The sessions are usually protracted and in-depth, as is sometimes necessary when counseling PTSD patients, and Tuerk has been doing this for 3 years.

Tuerk's technique focuses on showing veterans they have nothing to fear from their memories. That he is not in the same room with them when he is counseling them does not seem to change the effectiveness of the therapy itself. The veteran must come into their local VA outpatient clinic, which is then linked to the VA hospital via the video teleconferencing.

Most reluctance to undergo this type of therapy is quickly overcome once patients become more comfortable in the process. The "remote prolonged exposure therapy" is only offered at the South Carolina VA hospital right now. Hopefully, this system will be able to being nationally and benefit thousands to tens of thousands of veterans in need of mental health therapy for PTSD and other issues.