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 "I can't even talk to my wife like this," she recalled her friend
saying. "Nobody would understand."
Barney, now 34, says that moment defined her future.
She finished her four-year enlistment and enrolled in William James
College, which says it is the only U.S. psychology graduate school
focused on training veterans as counselors.
Founded in 2011, the school's programs aim to address the high rates
of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other mental
health conditions experienced by veterans of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and other conflicts.
"If you talk to most vets, they want to talk to people who have had
the same sets of experiences," said Robert Dingman, the director of
military and veterans psychology at the school, located west of
Boston. "We don't believe by any means that only vets can help vets,
but we think it's a good career pathway."
Estimates of how many of the country's 19 million veterans
experience mental health problems vary widely. A federal government
report released last year found that about 40 percent of veterans
who received care through the Veterans Health Administration were
diagnosed with a mental health or substance abuse condition, most
commonly depression, followed by post-traumatic stress disorder.
Other data suggest that figure may represent a higher rate of mental
health and substance abuse than is seen among the overall population
of veterans. An analysis of medical research by the RAND Corp think
tank found that rates of PTSD likely range from 5 percent to 20
percent of veterans.
CULTURES COLLIDE
William James College wants to bridge the cultural divide between
veterans, some of whom view seeking mental health care as akin to
admitting weakness, and psychologists and counselors, many of whom
know little about military culture.
The gap is wide enough that Barney's fellow student, Adam Freed,
left a graduate psychology program at Yale University when he
realized he was failing to connect with patients' issues related to
their or their loved ones' military service.
"It was just something that was completely alien to me," said Freed,
31. "I became increasingly interested in why didn't I get it?"
Freed decided the best way to understand was to enlist. He signed up
for the New York Army National Guard and went on to serve a tour in
Afghanistan before enrolling at William James. This month he
returned to active duty as an Army captain and military
psychologist.
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The college, previously known as the Massachusetts School of
Professional Psychology before renaming itself after the
19th-century philosopher, regarded as one of the founding thinkers
of American psychology and brother to novelist Henry James, boasts a
growing population of veterans, who this year represented about 50
of its 750 students.
Barney said her friends and even her wife were skeptical when she
told them she was planning a career in psychology after stints as a
prison guard and working on Army missile systems.
But the experience with her fellow soldier friend had convinced her
that her military service would be invaluable as a counselor, she
said, adding, "Some people just don't want to know the veteran's
experience."
Several students in the program said they also hope to overcome the
cultural gaps that can make it harder for therapists to connect with
veterans.
Fewer than one in 12 adult Americans have served in the armed
forces, and the students said many veterans are wary of discussing
their wartime experiences with people who do not share a military
background.
Freed recalled a psychologist asking him during a job interview what
it felt like to be "blown up." Freed had avoided such an incident in
combat but said he did not consider the topic as appropriate for
casual conversation.
"I don't think people ask about other forms of trauma with the same
laissez-faire attitude," Freed said. "I would confidently say that
they would not ask, 'What was it like to be raped?' These are both
things that are extremely, extremely traumatic and yet they are
treated in a very different way."
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan
Oatis)
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