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Did anyone listen to this story the other night...I think it was Monday. Here is the link http://www.npr.org/2010/12/20/132180563/pentagon-contractor-finds-therapy-inconclusive
They interviewed Cicerone but made no mention of Rohling's massive meta-analysis that came out in 2009, whose results (not surprisingly) fell somewhat in the middle. Not "ineffective" by any means, but certainly not alot of clinically meaningful improvement in specific abilities, on average at least. Again, not surprisingly, the biggest advantages seem to be the therapeutic and educational aspects of cog rehab, as well as the teaching of valuable compensatory strategies.
Two things that came into my mind listening to this story were 1.) very sad. 2.) not surprised. I think its sad that a death row inmate can get needed medical treatment for free despite its "cost," yet "cost" seems to be the reason (per Tricare) that the treatment is being denied to these veterans and service members. To my knowledge, although not all studies agree on the magnitude of the effect of cog rehab services, none have identified any harm that result either.Thus, why not provide the treatment that is available while we simultaneously attempt to develop even better methods. When a person is bleeding, you attempt to stop the bleeding while looking for something to make a tourniquet out of, right?
However, I am not totally surprised at the military's difficulty at handling this complex issue. Afterall, the military is the military. Its NOT a professional health care organization. I think its true that they have the responsibility to ensure the care of veterans injured in their watch, but their administration and infrastructure is just not set up for this massive responsibility. Its gonna fall on all of us to help I think..or at least to raise a lil hell.
They interviewed Cicerone but made no mention of Rohling's massive meta-analysis that came out in 2009, whose results (not surprisingly) fell somewhat in the middle. Not "ineffective" by any means, but certainly not alot of clinically meaningful improvement in specific abilities, on average at least. Again, not surprisingly, the biggest advantages seem to be the therapeutic and educational aspects of cog rehab, as well as the teaching of valuable compensatory strategies.
Two things that came into my mind listening to this story were 1.) very sad. 2.) not surprised. I think its sad that a death row inmate can get needed medical treatment for free despite its "cost," yet "cost" seems to be the reason (per Tricare) that the treatment is being denied to these veterans and service members. To my knowledge, although not all studies agree on the magnitude of the effect of cog rehab services, none have identified any harm that result either.Thus, why not provide the treatment that is available while we simultaneously attempt to develop even better methods. When a person is bleeding, you attempt to stop the bleeding while looking for something to make a tourniquet out of, right?
However, I am not totally surprised at the military's difficulty at handling this complex issue. Afterall, the military is the military. Its NOT a professional health care organization. I think its true that they have the responsibility to ensure the care of veterans injured in their watch, but their administration and infrastructure is just not set up for this massive responsibility. Its gonna fall on all of us to help I think..or at least to raise a lil hell.
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