The protracted conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and an all-volunteer military has resulted in multiple war zone deployments for many service members. While quick redeployment turnaround has left little time for readjustment for either the service member or family, dealing with the long-term sequelae of combat exposure often leaves families and intimate partners ill-prepared for years after deployments. Using a modified grounded theory approach, digitally recorded couple interviews of 23 couples were purposefully selected from a larger sample of 441 couples to better understand the impact of war zone deployment on the couple. The veteran sample was recruited from a randomly selected cohort of men in treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Overall, it was found when veterans experiencing deployment-related PTSD reenter or start new intimate relationships they may bring with them a unique cluster of interrelated issues which include PTSD symptoms, physical impairment, high rates of alcohol and/or drug abuse, and psychological and physical aggression. These factors contributed to a dynamic of exacerbating conflict. How these couples approached relationship qualities of mutuality, balanced locus of control and weakness tolerance across six axes of caregiving, disability, responsibility, trauma, communication, and community impacted the couple's capacity to communicate and resolve conflict. This dyadic relationship model is used to help inform implications for clinical practice.

Health injuries and related problems are well documented for the victims of domestic violence (DV). The health impact of DV behaviors for batterers has gone virtually unstudied. This study addresses the self-reports of health consequences of DV for both batterers and victims. The participants, 31 female victims and 62 male batterers, had numerous medical and mental health visits during the previous six months. Fourteen batterers (23%) received health care as a result of self-inflicted injuries from their battering. Eleven victims (35%) had received health care as a result of being battered. Eighteen batterers (29%) and 20 victims (64%) felt their medical and mental health problems were directly related to the DV. Additionally, batterers identified greater levels of stress on several of the subscales of the Symptoms of Stress Inventory (Nakagawa et al., 1993) than a comparison sample of adult men. Health care access as a result of DV was abundant for both victims and batterers. When assessing for DV, health care providers should screen for perpetrators as well as victims.

Anger management intervention is an integral part of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment in the Department of Veterans Affairs facilities across the country. However, the efficacy of such intervention has received little scientific study. This study was undertaken to describe the 51 male veterans who sought anger management intervention from March 1990 to March 1992 and to measure the efficacy of that intervention. The average participant was exposed to combat and was diagnosed with PTSD. The majority had a past or present substance abuse problem and described incidents of childhood trauma. Participants were tested at the first and final classes (State-Trait Anger Scale). Paired t-test analysis indicated a significant drop in both state- and trait-anger. Analysis of variance comparisons revealed that veterans with past psychological trauma had persistently higher mean anger scores than those without past trauma.