Alternative Therapies Required to be Made Available to Veterans

Many veterans who have served our country well suffer from a variety of symptoms and illnesses after deployment.  Some of the common conditions they deal with are anxiety, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome), depression, headaches, pain, and insomnia.  A very standard treatment for these conditions is a prescription for medication.  In some cases, medications can provide relief.  There can also be a downside.  Even when drugs are effective there may be accompanying negative side effects and sometimes dependence or addiction.

Now, as part of its Whole Health Initiative, the Veterans Administration is making alternative or complementary therapies available to veterans.  The list of therapies being made available include Acupuncture, Biofeedback, Clinical hypnosis, Guided imagery, Massage therapy, Meditation, Tai chi / qi gong, Yoga, and Chiropractic care.

The VA’s website states the Whole Health Initiative program “creates a personalized health plan that considers the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and environmental needs of veterans”. The VA says the Whole Health System “acknowledges that health care involves more than the physical human body.”  For information on the VA Whole Health Initiative see: https://www.military.com/militaryadvantage/2018/05/15/va-expanding-new-holistic-health-programs.html

Now veterans have these other therapies including biofeedback available to them to help them manage their symptoms and get better.  Years ago, biofeedback was available at some VA hospitals but not all.  Even at the VA hospitals where biofeedback was available, there was usually only one provider trained to provide the service.  A psychologist might have decided on his or her own that they wanted to learn biofeedback and make it available at their facility.  They might have only received limited support from management to learn biofeedback and make it available at their hospital.  They also would be expected to continue to perform all of their other existing duties.  With only one provider trained they could only serve a relative few veterans.  Some of the providers also relocate or retire causing the biofeedback services to stop.  The VHA DIRECTIVE 1137 requires that therapies like biofeedback be made available to all veterans.  In order to do this, more providers need to be trained to provide the services.

VA Whole Health management is now working to train more providers so that they will be equipped to offer biofeedback training to all of the veterans that their facility serves.  This is done by either sending psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, physical therapists, nurses, and medical doctors to biofeedback training classes or bringing training programs to their site to train their staff.  For information on biofeedback training programs see www.biofeedbackinternational.com  Biofeedback services can be made available to more veterans more consistently by having multiple providers trained and the full support of management.

With more providers training alternative therapies the veterans will benefit from having their health supported in a more complete and integrated way by combining traditional and alternative therapies addressing mental and physical health.

Harry L. Campbell

Harry@biofeedbackinternational.com  914-762-4646