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Military sexual trauma occurs during military service, so women veterans who have experienced MST will always seek help from military-specific support organisations because they best understand the military environment.
This is FALSE
Whilst some women veterans will prefer to seek support from military or veteran-specialist services, the evidence suggests that this is not universal and that women may prefer to seek help from more general services. MST specifically may lead to lasting feelings of shame, powerlessness and anger. Veterans may also feel betrayed both by military colleagues and the Armed Forces more widely. These feelings can significantly impact how a veteran interacts with services. Organisations which strongly reflect the Armed Forces in their identity or environment may be off-putting for some veterans. How to overcome this potential barrier should be a consideration for support services.
Disclosure and the health impacts of MST may happen at any point in a veteran’s life.
This is TRUE
Just as with any in-service traumatic experience, veterans may disclose their experiences of MST at any point in their lives. One women veteran who participated in research described how some of her in-service experiences and the impact did not become evident until later in life. She said: ‘The menopause lowered my defences… all the walls [women have] built up to get them through their service life… might crumble when they start hitting that menopause….’ MST may be disclosed in settings other than specialist veteran services. Any trauma disclosure should be veteran-led, and the response should respond to the veteran’s current needs in a trauma-informed way.
Cognitive processing therapy is currently the best-evidenced treatment for PTSD resulting from MST.
This is TRUE
Cognitive processing therapy or CPT is a gold-standard treatment, is a recommended PTSD treatment by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the UK, and currently has the best published evidence base for treating PTSD related to MST in women veterans. There is also some emergent evidence for some non-trauma-focused treatments. You can read the review of the published evidence here.
