Marjan G. Holloway, Ph.D.; Uniformed Services University of the Health Services; PTSD New Investigator Award

My research is focusing on the problem of suicide in the United States military and basically focusing on designing an intervention that is empirically based. That could be offered to military personnel and family members who have attempted suicide. Suicide is a significant health concern in the United States and globally as well. In the U.S. suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for individuals within the ages of 25 to 44. Within the United States military, suicide has generally been either the second or the third leading cause of mortality. My research specifically focuses on designing psychosocial interventions for individuals who have demonstrated some level of suicide behavior. By suicide behavior, we are referring to suicide ideation and/or suicide attempt behavior. In the CDMRP-funded study, we're hoping to focus on individuals who have been admitted to an inpatient facility at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. We're specifically hoping to recruit individuals who have been traumatized and therefore have a diagnosis of either acute distress disorder or post traumatic stress disorder who have also recently attempted suicide. And the research study that has been funded by the CDMRP is going to focus on designing a treatment, which is cognitive behavioral in nature, adapting it for usage within a military hospital environment and then basically pilot testing the treatment we've developed with the hopes that in the years to come we could have a larger randomized control trial conducted to test the efficacy of the intervention. The needs of individuals who are suicidal have for the most part historically been ignored. So even if you look at the psychotherapy literature, a significant number of these studies have a tendency to exclude individuals who demonstrate suicide ideation or suicide attempt behavior from their studies. Therefore, some of the evidence-based practices that we have for psychotherapy do not necessarily apply to the needs of suicidal individuals. We're hoping that the research that has been funded by the CDMRP will give us an opportunity to look at adapting interventions specifically meeting the needs of this high-risk group of individuals. I think CDMRP was a wonderfully unique opportunity for me as a researcher because it specifically funds research that focus on issues pertaining to military mental health and in that capacity I think it has been a wonderful mechanism for me as a young investigator to look into.