Aging, Depression, and Wisdom: A Pilot Study of Life-Review Intervention and PTSD Treatment With Two Groups of Vietnam Veterans

Abstract

Vietnam War veterans are a sometimes overlooked subgroup of the aging baby boomer generation. Forty years after the war ended, war veterans still seek out VA or Vet Center counselors to assist with traumatic stress symptoms. However, there currently are no specific age-related protocols for treating older war veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), nor have established PTSD interventions incorporated gerontology content for these older trauma survivors. This pilot study juxtaposed life review within regular PTSD group counseling for 12 Vietnam veterans at a community-based Vet Center using a partial crossover design. The Life Review and Experiencing Form (LREF) structured the delivery of the life review component. T-tests and repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine depression and self-assessed wisdom outcomes using measures previously tested with older adults. Findings suggest that life review prior to PTSD group therapy has clinical benefits for reducing symptoms of depression and increasing self-assessed wisdom. The study illuminates the possible relationship of traumatic stress symptom effects on the natural reminiscing process for older veterans and provides insights into methods for more age-appropriate treatment for trauma survivors participating in Vet Center and VA programs nationwide.

Assessment of 3-dimensional wisdom in schizophrenia: Associations with neuropsychological functions and physical and mental health

“…Given the importance of cognition for functioning in PwS, manifesting as a) the presence of cognitive impairments decades prior to the onset of psychotic symptoms (Fischer and Aguera-Ortiz, 2018;Keefe and Harvey, 2012), as well as b) a strong link between neuropsychological measures and clinically-relevant life outcomes (Green et al, 2000(Green et al, , 2004, one interpretation of our data is that the subgroup of PwS with greater wisdom also have better cognitive and functional performance. Therefore, to the extent that wisdom is modifiable (Daniels et al, 2015;McLaughlin et al, 2018), it may serve as a novel target for psychological interventions aiming to reduce the negative neurocognitive effects of psychosis. However, an alternative interpretation of our results is that PwS with better social cognitive and neuropsychological functioning develop and/or retain greater wisdom.…”

Moving from Humanities to Sciences: A New Model of Wisdom Fortified by Sciences of Neurobiology, Medicine, and Evolution

“…We found only two published studies reporting significant enhancement of wisdom. One of them was a pilot study of life-review intervention and PTSD treatment in two groups of Viet Nam veterans (Daniels, Boehnlein, & McCallion, 2015). The other one is our recently completed trial of an intervention to improve resilience, wisdom, and perceived stress (Treichler et al, 2020).…”

Introduction to the Aging Military Veterans Special Section

“…They discuss the importance in social workers considering the economic well-being of households with disabled veterans, and being aware of additional resources that might be available for them given their veteran status. This is followed by Daniels, Boehnlein, and McCallion (2015), who pilot tested an intervention designed for older war veterans to decrease depression and increase self-assessed wisdom. The intervention supplemented Life Review with group counseling for PTSD.…”