The VHA policies regarding military sexual trauma represent a uniquely comprehensive health care response to sexual trauma. Results attest to the feasibility of universal screening, which yields clinically significant information with particular relevance to mental health and behavioral health treatment. Women's health literature regarding sexual trauma will be particularly important to inform health care services for both male and female veterans.

Findings highlight a need for the examination of models explaining the relationship difficulties associated with PTSD symptomatology and interventions designed to treat problems in both areas.

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We examined military-related sexual trauma among deployed Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans. Of 125 729 veterans who received Veterans Health Administration primary care or mental health services, 15.1% of the women and 0.7% of the men reported military sexual trauma when screened. Military sexual trauma was associated with increased odds of a mental disorder diagnosis, including posttraumatic stress disorder, other anxiety disorders, depression, and substance use disorders. Sexual trauma is an important postdeployment mental health issue in this population.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition that affects approximately 10% of women in the United States. Although effective psychotherapeutic treatments for PTSD exist, clients with PTSD report additional benefits of complementary and alternative approaches such as yoga. In particular, yoga may downregulate the stress response and positively impact PTSD and comorbid depression and anxiety symptoms. We conducted a pilot study of a randomized controlled trial comparing a 12-session Kripalu-based yoga intervention with an assessment control group. Participants included 38 women with current full or subthreshold PTSD symptoms. During the intervention, yoga participants showed decreases in reexperiencing and hyperarousal symptoms. The assessment control group, however, showed decreases in reexperiencing and anxiety symptoms as well, which may be a result of the positive effect of self-monitoring on PTSD and associated symptoms. Between-groups effect sizes were small to moderate (0.08-0.31). Although more research is needed, yoga may be an effective adjunctive treatment for PTSD. Participants responded positively to the intervention, suggesting that it was tolerable for this sample. Findings underscore the need for future research investigating mechanisms by which yoga may impact mental health symptoms, gender comparisons, and the long-term effects of yoga practice.

Psychological abuse among battered women has been relatively understudied. However, battered women’s reports in the existing qualitative and quantitative research suggest that the effects of psychological abuse can be even more damaging than the effects of physical abuse. The current study attempted to clarify the relationship between psychological abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within a sample of battered women by statistically controlling for the effects of physical abuse. This study also explored the affective experiences of shame and guilt as important variables in the development of PTSD in battered women. This investigation replicated previous work suggesting that battered women are very much at risk for a diagnosis of PTSD and suggests that clinicians and researchers may need to focus on psychological abuse as a predictor of PTSD symptomatology. The current findings encourage attention to shame reactions in battered women and suggest new directions in the study of PTSD for other traumatized populations.

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The goal of this investigation was to examine gender differences in experiences of sexual harassment during military service and the negative mental health symptoms associated with these experiences. Female (n = 2,319) and male (n = 1,627) former reservists were surveyed about sexual harassment during their military service and current mental health symptoms. As expected, women reported a higher frequency of sexual harassment. Further, women had increased odds of experiencing all subtypes of sexual harassment. Being female conferred the greatest risk for experiencing the most serious forms of harassment. For both men and women, sexual harassment was associated with more negative current mental health. However, at higher levels of harassment, associations with some negative mental health symptoms were stronger for men than women. Although preliminary, the results of this investigation suggest that although women are harassed more frequently than men, clinicians must increase their awareness of the potential for sexual harassment among men in order to provide the best possible care to all victims of harassment.