From Our Members: Approaching Cynicism as Functional, Maladaptive, and Changeable is Crucial to the Longitudinal Health Trajectories of OEF/OIF/OND Veterans
StressPoints
Cynicism can come to dominate the worldview of combat veterans, especially those who struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) characterized by hypervigilance and chronic threat detection (see Todd et al., 2015). This insight is no doubt familiar to many clinicians working in veteran care settings. Accruing evidence suggests that cynicism—and negative worldview-related byproducts— serve as an integral barrier to health care and healthy re-integration into life after combat (see Arbisi et al., 2013; Crawford et al., 2015; Held & Owens, 2012; Hoge et al., 2004; Sayer et al., 2009). According to a vast evidence base in personality/health psychology, chronic cynicism that calcifies as a trait-like entity is one of our best predictors of biopsychosocial dysfunction across the lifespan (e.g., metabolic disease, cardiovascular disease, low social support, divorce; see Glazer-Baron et al., 2007; Miller et al., 1996; Mommersteeg & Pouwer, 2012; Smith, 2006; Smith, Glazer, Ruiz, & Gallo et al., 2004).
Military Matters: Minority Stress in LGBTQ Service Members: Creating Safety Amid Uncertainty
StressPoints
The United States military has often been at the forefront of efforts to incorporate minority groups into the fighting force, even while the country, as a whole, was divided by broader social movements such as racial segregation. As the U.S. military unites individuals from a wide range of backgrounds, efforts to homogenize the force may have the unintended effect of blinding leaders and healthcare providers to important cultural differences including minority stressors among service members. Mental healthcare providers within the Department of Defense (DoD) often receive extensive training in the identification and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. But, these providers may have a limited conceptualization of trauma and stress in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) populations, including more insidious forms of trauma stemming from anti-LGBTQ policies and social movements that may affect these military personnel.