|
Year
|
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Milestones |
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1989 |
|
- Edward Derwinski, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, dedicates National Center for PTSD with five Divisions: Executive, Evaluation, Education, Behavioral Science, and Clinical Neurosciences.
- First National Center meeting launches development of Clinician Administered PTSD Scale, or CAPS.
- Disaster Mental Health program begins with response to earthquake in Loma Prieta, CA.
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1990 |
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- PTSD Research Quarterly and NCP Clinical Newsletter (name later changed to NCP Clinical Quarterly) are published for the first time.
- Education Division begins on-site Clinical Training Program.
- National Center staff participate in first VA/DoD training conference to prepare for casualties from Gulf War.
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1991 |
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- PILOTS (Published International Literature on Traumatic Stress) database becomes publicly available, providing a comprehensive cross-discipline index to all published research on trauma.
- Evaluation Division launches first national survey of VA PTSD inpatient programs.
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|
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1992 |
|
- Behavioral Sciences Division completes data collection for first VA Cooperative Study on PTSD.
- Education Division supports development of VA's first PTSD inpatient program for female veterans.
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|
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1993 |
|
- Women's Health Sciences Division is established, and Pacific Islands Division is formed from Pacific Center research program. Number of divisions stands at seven.
- Scientific Institute on Ethnocultural Aspects of PTSD is co-sponsored with NIMH.
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1994 |
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- National training conference on African-American veterans and PTSD is co-sponsored with Readjustment Counseling Service (RCS).
- Work continues on three longitudinal projects to study health and well-being of Gulf War veterans.
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1995 |
|
- Clinical Neurosciences Division reports that a part of the brain involved in learning and memory is reduced in size in Vietnam veterans with PTSD.
- Website becomes available to researchers, clinicians, and the general public.
- National Center co-sponsors, with NIMH, Consensus Conference on PTSD Assessment.
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1996 |
|
- Findings on Congressionally-mandated study of PTSD in Native American and Asian-American Vietnam veterans are presented to Secretary Brown.
- Women's Health Sciences Division completes national survey of women veterans' perceptions of VA health care.
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|
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1997 |
|
- VA Cooperative Study #420, the largest PTSD psychotherapy study ever conducted, kicks off.
- Education Division completes VA Disaster Mental Health Manual.
- Evaluation Division develops National Mental Health Performance Monitoring System for evaluating VA mental health programs.
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|
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1998 |
|
- National Disaster Mental Health Training Series is launched, in collaboration with RCS.
- National Center contributes to project, in response to Presidential Research Directive, to advance programs promoting health and well-being of active-duty military personnel.
- National Center plays a major role in two ISTSS projects: one to develop empirically-based Practice Guidelines for PTSD, and another, to create a plan to address global impact of trauma for the UN.
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1999 |
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- National Center participates in White House Conference on Mental Health.
- Along with VA Headquarters, National Center coordinates VA PTSD/Primary Care Summit.
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2000 |
|
- First Practice Guidelines for PTSD treatment are completed, under the auspices of ISTSS.
- Second VA Primary Care/Mental Health Summit and Town Hall Meeting is held in DC.
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2001 |
|
- National Center staff are called in to assist in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
- Women's issues come to the forefront: Cooperative Study #494 on female veterans, carried out with DOD, and Congressionally-mandated Military Sexual Trauma project are both launched this year.
- Consensus Conference "Early Intervention Following Mass Casualties" - involving National Center, DoD, HHS, and other agencies - is convened.
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2002 |
|
- Website usage rises dramatically, as both professionals and laypersons turn to the National Center's site for information on disaster mental health following 9/11 attacks.
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2003 |
|
- National Center develops and distributes Iraq War Clinician Guide to prepare VA and DOD to serve personnel returning from Iraq.
- National Center launches several "telehealth" initiatives, enabling long-distance access to care for veterans in remote locations.
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2004 |
|
- The VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Post-Traumatic Stress is developed with major contributions of National Center staff.
- Cooperative Study #504, examining the effectiveness of risperidone with other treatments, is launched.
- Clinical Neurosciences Division forms partnership with Mt. Sinai School of Medicine to establish a Resilience Lab, a center for the study of resilience.
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2005 |
|
- Psychological First Aid manual, providing evidence-informed guidance for first responders, is completed and placed on the National Center's website.
- Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans; National Center staff are called in to assist.
VA begins development of "MyHealtheVet," an electronic portal for health care patients; National Center is actively involved in its development.
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2006 |
|
- "PTSD 101," a comprehensive web-based PTSD training resource, is completed.
- Website (www.ptsd.va.gov) receives a major redesign, including sections geared to the needs of specific groups such as researchers, clinicians, veterans and their families.
- VA begins rollout of Cognitive Processing Therapy, a major evidence-based treatment for PTSD, through the VA network to all VA clinicians.
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2007 |
|
- The Brain Bank, housed at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), is established.
- Rollout of Prolonged Exposure Therapy to VA clinicians, a second evidence-based treatment, begins.
VA Uniformed Services Handbook states that all veterans with PTSD must have access to evidence-based treatments.
- Clinician's Trauma Update - Online (CTU-Online) newsletter is launched, providing busy clinicians with summaries of the latest research on clinically relevant topics in the trauma field. Delivered via email every two months.
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2008 |
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- PTSD Mentoring Program is launched. This program is for Program Administrators to support clinicians' work; two mentors are selected for each of the 22 VISNs.
- National Center and DoD collaborate on STRONG STAR Multidisciplinary Research Consortium, aimed at developing effective interventions to prevent and treat combat-related PTSD in active-duty military personnel.
- National Center plays key role as collaborator on grant for creation of the National Center for Disaster Mental Health Research funded by NIH.
- Clinical Neurosciences Division publishes evidence of interaction between genetic and environmental factors in development of PTSD.
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