A reason why soldiers are so dedicated

So I ended a recent post on the IKEA Effect that was developed by Dan Ariely at Duke University, Michael Norton at Harvard Business School and Daniel Mochon of Tulane University.  You may be concerned about the correlation between Swedish furniture and military social work.  This idea compliments that personal valuation of items by adding the factor of successful completion.  It is prized for your own efforts to assemble the furniture but also the fact that once you use it the furniture doesn’t crumble like Homer Simpson’s spice rack.  Oh mastery and competence! Hooray! Not only is that futon actually functional but it is an entertaining conversation piece essentially about mastery and competence.  

The IKEA Effect references a physical product but this can apply to service also.  A couple weeks ago I changed my own headlight. It was super simple. I felt like the car was more than just a mode of transportation. Now my car was something that I had bond with. An article in the Harvard Business Journal mentions that it can be applied to the corporate environment where ideas are a commodity.  Consider the situation where old ideas are held on to.  In this case it is not exactly shoddy work as much as unproductive.  This article mentions how managers may reject better ideas over their own ideas.

That sound like something social workers work with.  That could be policy, procedures and practices that are not productive.  I am sure that we all have our pet projects that we put a lot of effort into.  Sometimes the situations that we are working with are as complicated and frustrating as those furniture assembly instructions. Successfully passing a bill or policy getting a seeing a homeless person into a shelter can be exhilarating. 

   

I related the IKEA Effect to the Warrior Ethos. 

I will always place the mission first.

I will never accept defeat.

I will never quit.

I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I think that it is important to consider the IKEA Effect of military service when working with veterans.  The amount of effort put into a service member’s military career can be enormous for exceeding the standard is the norm. I remember the hours of starching uniforms and spit shinning boots. It was a running joke that if the military wanted you to have (whatever was suffering in your life) the military would have issued it to you.  Typically that thing suffering in your life was a social life and or family life.  Additionally, the military sets it up so that a service member can initially successful.  For example unless paperwork is submitted for adverse situations an enlisted soldier automatically advances up the rank of Specialist (E-4) on a time schedule. Mastery and competence confirmation on a time schedule!

The Warrior Ethos is about being a soldier.  It is not so much about being an airman or a seaman.  I caution social workers to not assume this for all service members.  Airmen and seamen are not typically going to pick up a weapon and on the grounds of a combat zone.  In combat operations they are just as important.  However they have a different frame of mind for which I cannot speak to.  It can be an insult to assume that they are the same.  

Follow up article: Author's personal copy of Bolstering and restoring feelings of competence via the IKEA effect.  Don’t want to read… here is a recently posted TED talk Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work?  Notice the last few moments when there is a list of what makes employees happy in addition to money.  Think about how the military satisfies all of those ideas except maybe creativity.

Military Jokes

A Drill Sergeant yells to a large formation of soldiers, "All right! All you idiots fall out."As the rest of the squad wandered away, one soldier remained at attention.  The Drill Sergeant walked to that one remaining soldier. As they were eye-to-eye the Drill Sergeant smiled and said, "Sure was a lot of 'em, huh?" 


OK,one more....


"Well," snarled the tough old Navy Chief to the bewildered Seaman. "I suppose after you get discharged from the Navy, you'll just be waiting for me to die so you can come and piss on my grave." "Not me, Chief!" the Seaman replied. "Once I get out of the Navy, I'm never going to stand in line again!"

Wait! Wait! I got one more. 

Officer: "Soldier, do you have change for a dollar?"
Soldier: "Sure, buddy."
Officer: "That's no way to address an officer!  Now let's try it again. Soldier. Do you have change for a dollar?"
Soldier: "No, SIR!"

Find more jokes on http://www.military-quotes.com/jokes/index.htm

Ego Defense Mechanisms

"The world breaks everyone and afterward some are strong at the broken places."

 -Ernest Hemingway

 

Defense mechanisms get a bad rap.  There is a range of defense mechanisms that all serve the purpose of relieving anxiety and or stress.  Some of these are adaptive and some are maladaptive.  

Mature defense type include Altruism, Sublimation, Suppression, Anticipation and Humor.  Sublimation is engaging and channeling anxiety in to a productive outlet such as sports, hobbies and activism.  The idea of suppression being a mature defense mechanism may be strange.  I think an appropriate description would be temporarily ignoring a stressor or anxiety inducing situation in order to deal with it later.  It would be mature to recognize a problem but still know that there is nothing or very little that can be done at the time and therefore prioritizing accordingly.  The key is recognition and dealing with it at a more appropriate time.

Immature defense type include projection, fantasy, hypochondriasis, passive aggression, acting out and dissociation.  You recognize some of these mechanisms as those annoying behaviors of children and adolescents.  Of the list projection and dissociation may need further clarification.  Projection is the inclination to assume that the anxiety ridden thoughts about ourselves are assumed to be coming from someone else.  For example, a person that has anxiety about their job performance will assume that the boss is also concerned about their job performance.  Dissociation is typically associated with traumatic experiences. There is a pattern of the potential to develop into mature defenses. 

Neurotic defense type include repression, displacement, isolation, intellectualize, reaction formation. Repression is a mechanism that touches on all defense mechanisms but become neurotic when there is a failure to recognize the stressor and/or anxiety inducing situation.   Reaction formation is a defense mechanism that is typically associated with abusive relationships.  When explaining reaction formation I think of physics ….an equal and opposite reaction.  A reaction formation to someone you despise would be to befriend and lavish that person with compliments. These patterns are lacking in the potential to develop into mature defenses.  These behaviors would require more work to become mature and a delicate balance to be adaptive. 

The last type of defense mechanisms is Psychotic. Reality perception is maladaptive in this type of defenses.  This includes extreme forms of delusional projection, denial, distortion.  

This list is not all inclusive.  For more information take a look at this document. Always consider that each defense mechanism serves a purpose whether it is adaptive or maladaptive. Consider how it affects other important functions of life such as employment, personal care, and/or personal relationships.

Defense mechanisms are highly related to the work of Dan Ariely.  On the blog Barking up the WrongTree, Eric interviews Professor Dan Ariely.  In this interview they go over some basic concepts Professor Ariely work in behavioral economics such as the good side of irrational behaviors, attempting to correct irrational behaviors and dishonesty. They talk about the Lego and IKEA effect which I will write about as related to the Warrior Ethos.  This is really interesting social science information. Check out this interview about irrational behaviors and danariely.com

Introduction of the BRAIN Project

At President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union Address the next potential US government initiated international project was introduced. If you didn’t catch it is the brain mapping.  So the last project was the well-known Human Genome Project (HGP).  That project mapped out a chromosome which was a costly project but provided fruitful and immensely beneficial developments such as gene therapy.  Today, in a press release the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) program was announced. 

The obvious correlation of this project is through Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) however let us considering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  A 2006 article (pdf link) cites many effects of traumatic stress on the brain.

Stress results in acute and chronic changes in neurochemical systems and specific brain regions, which result in long term changes in brain “circuits,” involved in the stress response. Brain regions that are felt to play an important role in PTSD include hippocampus, amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex. Cortisol and norepinephrine are two neurochemical systems that are critical in the stress response. (Bremner, 2006)

This article goes into much detail about the functions of the brain.  One section deals with cognitive processes.  This section notes deficits in declarative memory. This is long term memory like events or knowledge.  So any way that article is packed full of great information. 

This project could be very fruitful however I feel that this project will be more challenging than the HGP.  My number one reason for it being more complicated is brain/neuro plasticity. This is the brains ability and inclination to alter itself.  It can change both functionally and physically.  Confused yet?  Here is a link to PTSD and the Brain webpage that has many more great links. 

How do you think the BRAIN project could affect service members, veterans and their families? 

Community Resources for the Military and Veteran Population

The National Association of Social Workers is offering “Community Resources for the Military and Veteran Population” as a free webinar to members on March 29^th, 1-3pm ET.  If you don’t have the opportunity to open up that time on your schedule just register later and listen at your convenience. I previewed the power point slides and it seems like the webinar will be very informative for those who are not familiar with the military. The webinar qualifies for 2 CE units.  

So You Want to be an Uniformed Social Worker?

Are you thinking of becoming a social worker that wears a uniform?

Army Officer: Social Worker (73A)

If you want to go the officer route and have no military experience contact the ROTC department at your nearest university for a chat with someone in the field.  If none of the ROTC instructors are from the mental health field then they should be able to put you in contact with ROTC instructors from other universities and/or those in active duty /National Guard /Reserves. To find out about the military commissioning process contact your local recruiter.

Review the following pdf document for more general officer information.  Army Regulation 135-156

Army Enlisted: Mental Health Specialist (68X)

Here is a link to the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) description. MOS Book  68X is on page 342.  This document describes the duties, expectations and a brief description of the Advanced Individual Training (AIT) that a 68X would receive. 

Consider the following when going through the enlistment process with your local recruiter.  It is important to consider the type of work you are looking.  Is this occupation in high demand, does it require a higher aptitude, does it require a team or is it independent.  The answers to these questions will give you a good estimation of how many slots will be available.  Considering the close of many combat operations there is a high demand for Mental Health Professions for Active duty, National Guard, and Reserves.  So we could safely assume that slots are being created to meet the needs of the military.  Now study to get as high an ASVAB (Armed ServicesVocational & Aptitude Battery) test score as you can. 68X requires a score of 101 as of 2004. After you have established as physically capable you and taken your ASVAB you will be given a print out of the MOSs that you qualify for.  They don’t make it that obvious that that list changes depending on the current needs of the military. You can increase your chances of getting the MOS you want by getting to this point of the process near the beginning of the Fiscal Year, and when the military needs have been reevaluated.  I believe that the results of the ASVAB are good for 2 years so keep going back.

How about some uniformed Social Workers in Action? Here is a list of articles that describe Combat Stress Control (CSC) Teams.

Team Helps Troops in Afghanistan Fight Stress

Therapists deployed to war zone to fight stress disorders

Placement of Combat Stress Teams in Afghanistan: Reducing Barriers to Care  (free downloadable)

Additional Sources of information:

Document that helps sort out some codes for the enlistment process and MOSs AR 611-201

Anthrax Vaccination Tests on Kids?!

Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethics released Safeguarding Children: Pediatric Medical Countermeasure Research. This report is creating a bit of a commotion but actually this is a study for ethically testing children in the case of that the study is commenced.  This report is in response to the January 6, 2012 request by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Here is a little of the back story on a 2012 blog post on a nature.com blog.

The conclusion of the March 2013 report was as follows:

The Bioethics Commission concluded that before ethical pre-event pediatric AVA trials can be considered, further steps must be taken, including additional minimal risk research with adult participants, in order to determine whether the research risks to children—who do not stand to benefit directly from it—can be reduced to a level that poses no substantial risk to their health or well-being.

There won't be any testing any time soon. 

Is Anthrax a real threat?

After reading more about Anthrax  it is not so scary.  Anthrax aka Wool sorter’s disease and/or Rag picker’s disease has always had a strange and scary connotation to me however this article and many others say that the likely human affected are those who work with hoofed animals.  Below is an image from Howstuffworks.com. Why are we not hearing about anthrax infections of farmers and vets all the time?  Shouldn’t that be the topic of discussion at the local rural diner? This leads me to believe that this dangerous disease is not that much of a threat.

So we know how it is naturally occurring but what is the potential that it will be a real threat to children. What if it is easy to make?   Most of my findings suggest that to make anthrax you have to have a lab which led me to believe that it is not easy to produce and manage.

Amy Gutmann, the chair of the bioethical issues commission, says that a strong case for the study would be made “if the community that’s most supportive of moving this forward would volunteer their own children for the study”. Parker, Major General John Parker, the chair of the National Biodefense Science Board, responded to the comment: “There are people in our population [the armed forces] that would like their family immunized.”

 I would like to know what service members want their family to endure the same hard ships they do. As a veteran parent I would not allow my child to be tested with anthrax vaccinations even though I had no adverse experiences.  I got anthrax vaccinations in preparation for combat and maintenance vaccinations while in the combat zone.  For more info on the military vaccination program visit the AVIP website.  The actual process for fabricating weapon-grade anthrax is classified and I would not share it even if it were unclassified.  However during the process of taking my anthrax shots the military temporarily suspended the program.  This suit was more about choices than adverse health risk. Let me put a little bit more perspective on the suspension, according to the linked article the suit was filed in March of 2003.  The 10th anniversary of the first day of bombing of Baghdad was just yesterday March 19, 2003.  In such haste it is scary to be at the mercy of someone else’s decision for what is best for you. A child cannot file a suit for the option of taking the vaccination.

I believe that it is important to protect our children however I do not believe that this is the best method.  I would suggest review documented cases and starting studies in rural areas, tanneries, or locations where hoofed animals and human interact that look for anthrax cases. What I found was that weaponized anthrax was enhanced to last longer in the natural elements in order to more wide spread as opposed to more devastating.  This validates the study of naturally occurring infections.