Reflective Journal

Reflective Journal: Assignment 2

I. Experiences, Issues, and Topics with Preconceived Thoughts

The purpose of this assignment is to summarize my learning from this course and how I may apply the information to my future practice as a social worker. I will examine different topics and issues that I have learned throughout the course, and then I will reflect my countertransference of emotions to raise personal awareness. The two chosen topics that I have learned about throughout this course that made the biggest emotional impact on me are Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and family violence.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an injury to combat that will likely be present in social work practice with military service members and veterans. The implications of PTSD and the stigma of mental health within the military is important for me to understand regardless of whether I chose to work with military members or not. According to Van der Kolk (1996), PTSD is the aftermath to experiencing an intensity-distressing event. Taking combat into consideration, PTSD and other mental health concerns are a common result to the exposure of combat. According to a 2008 Rand Corporation study, symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other re-adjustment stressors are common among nearly ¼ of military members (as cited in Reyes, 2011). According to Reyes (2011), combat exposure and PTSD cause the service member to struggle finding one’s “self” due to a disturbed identity structure, distorted belief system of self, interactions with family members, and perceptions of the world.

Domestic violence, or family violence, is often the repercussion to the stress of military life. According to Franklin (2013), domestic violence is...

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Rubak, S., Sandbaek, A., Lauritzen, T., & Christensen, B. (2005). Motivational interviewing: A systematic review and meta-anaylsis. British Journal of General Practice, 55(513). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1463134/.

Rubin, A. & Wiess, E.L. (2013). Secondary trauma in military social work. In A. Rubin, E.L. Weiss, & J.E. Coll (Eds.), Handbook of military social work (pp. 67-77). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Van der Kolk, B.A. (1996). The body keeps the score: Approaches to the psychobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder. In B. A. Van der Kolk, A.C. McFarlane, & L. Weisaeth (Eds.), Traumatic stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body, and society (pp. 214-241). New York, NY: The Guildford Press.