Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Relational Social Work Practice with Combat Veterans

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Relational Social Work Practice with Diverse Populations

Part of the book series: Essential Clinical Social Work Series ((ECSWS))

Abstract

Relational social work is a practice model rich in social constructivist, relational-cultural, feminist, and interpersonal theories. Despite theoretical variations, all these orientations share the foundational construct that human beings are inextricably embedded in their social environments and cannot be understood apart from the relational context they are immersed in. Relational social work adopts a client-centered non-pathological stance, which focuses on the healing nature of relationships through connection and co-creation of narratives and meaning. Combat veterans, like members of other diverse groups and subcultures, will present with complex cultural layers that are unique to their war experience. A general level of cultural competency and sensitivity is needed to view a combat veteran’s symptoms, issues, and personal narrative, as an adaptation of that person to the environment or culture of war. The bidirectional process, mutuality, and respectful collaboration can help reframe traumatic events and assist the returning combatant in re-integrating into his prewar environment while affirming new constructs for survival and relational schemas. A review of the literature and a case illustration are presented in support of the importance of a relational social work perspective with this population.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adams, R. E., Boscarino, J. A., & Figley, C. R. (2006). Compassion fatigue and psychological distress among social workers: A validation study. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 76(1), 103–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adler, A. (1992). What life could mean to you (C. Brett, Trans.). Oxford: One World. (Original work published 1931).

    Google Scholar 

  • Adler, A. B., Huffman, A. H., Bliese, P. D., & Castro, C. A. (2005). The impact of deployment length and experience on the well-being of male and female soldiers. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10(2), 121–137. doi:10.1037/10768998.10.2.121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aron, L. (1996). A meeting of minds: Mutuality in psychoanalysis. Hillsdale: Analytic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Association American Psychiatric. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, J. E., & Sherman, M. D. (Eds.) (2011, February). Treating traumatized oef/oif veterans: How does trauma treatment affect the clinician? Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42(1), 79–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berzoff, J., Flanagan, L., & Hertz, P. (2008). Inside out and outside in: Psychodynamic clinical theory and practice in contemporary multicultural contexts. New York: Jason Aronson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonanno, G. A. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events? American Psychologist, 59(1), 1–25. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.59.1.20. 07/12/2011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1983). Attachment (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books Classics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bragin, M. (2010). Can anyone here know who I am? Co-constructing meaningful narrative with combat veterans. In P. Rosen (Ed.), Clinical Social Work Journal, 38(3), 316–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandell, J. (2011). Theory and practice in clinical social work (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bromberg, P. M. (1998). Standing in the spaces: Essays on clinical process trauma and dissociation. New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castro, C. A. (2004). Walter reed army institute of research: Battlemind training I and II transitioning from combat to home, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cozolino, L. (2002). The neuroscience of human relationships: Attachment and the developing social brain. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeYoung, P. (2003). Relational psychotherapy: A primer. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erbes, C. R., Curry, K. T., & Leskela, J. (2009). Treatment presentation and adherence of Iraq/Afghanistan era veterans in outpatient care for posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Services, 6(3), 175–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farber, B. A. (2006). Self-disclosure in psychotherapy. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Figley, C. R. (1978). Stress disorders among Vietnam veterans: Theory, research and treatment. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Figley, C. R. (2002). Treating compassion fatigue. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fontana, A., & Rosenheck, R. (2005). The role of loss of meaning in the pursuit of treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 18(2), 133–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fosha, D. (2000). The transforming power of affect. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fosha, D., Siegel, D. J., & Solomon, M. (2009). The healing power of emotion: Affective neuroscience, development and clinical practice. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankl, V. E. (1946). Man’s search for meaning. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1918). Totem and taboo. New York: Moffat, Yard & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, E. G., Miehls, D., & Ringel, S. (2009). Advanced clinical social work practice: Relational principles and techniques. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, D., & Christensen, L. W. (2008). On combat: The psychology and physiology of deadly conflict in war and in peace. Illinois: Warrior Science Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence- from domestic abuse to political terror. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hesse, A. R. (2002). Secondary trauma: How working with trauma survivors affects therapists. Clinical Social Work Journal, 30(3), 293–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, I. Z. (1994). Dialectical thinking and therapeutic action in the psychoanalytic process. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 63, 187–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoge, C. W. (2010). Once a warrior–always a warrior: Navigating the transition from combat to home. New York: GPP Life.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoge, C. W., Castro, C. A., Messer, S. C., McGurk, D., Cotting, D. I., & Koffman, R. L. (2004). Combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health problems, and barriers to care. The New England Journal of Medicine, 351(1), 13–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoge, C. W., Auchterlonie, J. L., & Milliken, C. S. (2006). Mental health problems, use of mental health services, and attrition from military service after returning from deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. Journal of the American Medical Association, 295(9), 1023–1032.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janoff-Bulman, R. (1992). Shattered assumptions: Towards a new psychology of trauma. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, J. V. (2010). In J. Carlson & M. Englar-Carlson (Eds.), Relational–cultural therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laser, J., & Stephens, P. (2011). Working with military families through deployment and beyond. Clinical Social Work Journal, 39(1), 28–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lifton, R. J. (1973). Home from the war. New York: Simon & Shuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2007). Therapy work and therapists’ positive and negative well-being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26(3), 385–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCann, I. L., & Pearlman, L. A. (1990). Vicarious traumatization: A framework for understanding the psychological effects of working with victims. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3, 131–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDevitt-Murphy, M. E., Williams, J. L., Bracken, K. L., Fields, J. A., Monahan, C. J., & Murphy, J. G. (2010). PTSD symptoms, hazardous drinking, and health functioning among U.S. OEF and OIF veterans presenting to primary care. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23(1), 108–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. B. (1989). Connections, disconnections and violations (Work in progress, Vol. 33). Wellesley: Stone Center Working Paper Series.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. B., & Stiver, I. (1997). The healing connection: How women form relationships in therapy and in life. Boston: Beacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, S. A. (1988). Relational concepts in psychoanalysis: An integration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, S. A. (2000). Relationality: From attachment to intersubjectivity (Vol. 20). New Jersey: The Analytic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, S. A., & Aron, L. (1999). Relational psychoanalysis: The emergence of a tradition. New Jersey: The Analytic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Munroe, J. (1991). Therapist traumatization from exposure to clients with combat related post-traumatic stress disorder: Implications for administration and supervision. Ed.D. dissertation, Northeastern University, Boston. Dissertation Abstracts International, 52-03B, 1731.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neumann, D. A., & Gamble, S. J. (1995). Issues in the professional development of psychotherapists: Countertransference, and vicarious traumatization in the new trauma therapist. Psychotherapy, 32(2), 341–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orange, D. (1995). Emotional understanding: Studies in psychoanalysis. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearlman, L. A., & Saakvitne, K. (1995). Trauma and the therapist: Countertransference and vicarious traumatization in psychotherapy with incest survivors. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quillman, T. (2011, January 18). Neuroscience and therapist self-disclosure: deepening right brain to right brain communication between therapist and patient. Clinical Social Work Journal. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/103103u12873hlr5/fulltext.html. Accessed 12 July 2011.

  • Rasmussen, B. (2005). An intersubjective perspective on vicarious trauma and its impact on the clinical process. Journal of Social Work Practice, 19(1), 19–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice, L., & Greenberg, L. (1984). Patterns of change: An intensive analysis of psychotherapeutic process. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saari, C. (2002). The environment: Its role in psychosocial functioning and psychotherapy. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sabin-Farrell, R., & Turpin, G. (2003). Vicarious traumatization: Implications for the mental health of workers? Clinical Psychology Review, 23(3), 449–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Safran, J. D. (2002). Brief relational psychoanalytic treatment. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 12, 171–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schamess, G. (2011, May 12). Mutual transformation in psychotherapy. Clinical Social Work Journal. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/30730377846h8311/fulltext.html. Accessed 28 June 2011.

  • Schore, A. N. (2001). Minds in the making: Attachment, the self-organizing brain, and developmentally-oriented psychoanalytic psychotherapy. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 17(3), 299–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shatan, C. F. (1978). Stress disorders among Vietnam veterans: The emotional context of combat continues. In C. R. Figley (Ed.), Stress disorders among Vietnam veterans (pp. 43–55). New York: Brunner/Mazel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shay, J. (1994). Achilles in Vietnam. New York: Scribner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shay, J. (2002). Odysseus in America: Combat trauma and the trials of homecoming. New York: Scribner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, N. (2010). The untold war: Inside the hearts, minds, and souls of our soldiers. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Southwick, S. M., Gilmartin, R., McDonough, P., & Morrisey, P. (2006). Logotherapy as an adjunctive treatment for chronic combat-related PTSD: A meaning-based intervention. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 60(2), 161–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stamm, B. H. (Ed.). (1999). Secondary traumatic stress: Self-care issues for clinicians, researchers, and educators (2nd ed.). Lutherville: Sidran Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern, D. N. (2000). The interpersonal world of the infant. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stolorow, R. D. (2007). Trauma and human existence: Autobiographical, psychoanalytic, and philosophical reflections (Vol. 23). New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stolorow, R. D., & Atwood, G. E. (2002). Contexts of being: The intersubjective foundations of psychological life. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 2–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teicholz, J. G. (2009). My relational self psychology. Self and Systems, 1159, 122–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tosone, C. (2004). Relational social work: Honoring the tradition. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 74(3), 475–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tosone, C. (2006). Therapeutic intimacy: A post-9/11 perspective. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 76(4), 89–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tosone, C., & Bialkin, L. (2004). Mass violence and secondary trauma: Issues for the clinician. In S. L. Ashenberg-Straussner & N. K. Phillips (Eds.), Understanding mass violence: A social work perspective (pp. 157–168). Boston: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tosone, C., et al. (2003). Shared trauma: Group reflections on the September 11th disaster. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 10(1), 57–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyson, J. M. (2007). Compassion fatigue in the treatment of combat-related trauma during wartime. Clinical Social Work Journal, 35(1), 183–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Kolk, B. A., McFarlane, A. C., & Weisaeth, L. (Eds.). (1996). Traumatic stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body, and society. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wachtel, P. (2007). Relational theory and the practice of psychotherapy. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wachtel, P. L. (2010). One-person and two-person conceptions of attachment and their implications for psychoanalytic thought. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 91(3), 561–581.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, P. J. (2009). Understanding military culture when treating PTSD. Retrieved from http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/ptsd101/course-modules/military_culture.asp

  • Watts, R. E. (2003). Adlerian therapy as a relational constructivist approach. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 11(2), 139–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J. P., Friedman, M. J., & Lindy, J. D. (2001). A holistic, organismic approach to healing trauma and PTSD. In J. P. Wilson, M. J. Friedman, & J. D. Lindy (Eds.), Treating psychological trauma and PTSD (pp. 28–56). New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wrenn, L. J. (2003). Trauma: Conscious and unconscious meaning. Clinical Social Work Journal, 31(2), 123–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimering, R., Munroe, J., & Gulliver, (2003). Secondary traumatization in mental health providers. Psychiatric Times. 20(4). http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p030443.html

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Maplewood, NJ, USA

    Jeni Tyson LCSW

Authors
  1. Jeni Tyson LCSW
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeni Tyson LCSW .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Silberman School of Social Work, City University of New York, n/a, New York, 10075, New York, USA

    Judith B. Rosenberger

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Tyson, J. (2014). Relational Social Work Practice with Combat Veterans. In: Rosenberger, J. (eds) Relational Social Work Practice with Diverse Populations. Essential Clinical Social Work Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6681-9_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation