Battle Buddies and Lovers Vignette Learning Points

Issues Raised in Vignette Matt is a Vietnamese American raised by first generation Vietnamese parents. He is deeply patriotic and highly values his freedom. He volunteers at a Boy Scout youth camp and has good rapport with underprivileged kids whom he shares a common experience of marginalization by mainstream society. He enlists in the Army, is trained as a combat medic and is deployed to Iraq. He is continuously exposed to trauma, fear, death, pain and suffering, high stress, long days, extreme temperatures and constant uncertainty about his safety with varying degrees of anxiety.

Matt is wounded in an IED explosion and falls in love with Captain Danielle Robaire, his recovery nurse. She suddenly disappears from the camp, and he never sees her again. He returns home, and has difficulty transitioning back to life as a civilian. Matt seeks therapy to help his transition. In therapy, he admits feeling depressed, has thoughts about death and questions whether or not the relationship he had with the nurse was real. Captain Robaire, was a possible CIA operative, and her mutilated body had been located and positively identified by the Pentagon. Matt seriously considers taking his life.

Matt began therapy to deal with traumatic symptoms related to his war experiences, including depression, sleeplessness, anxiety, hyper- vigilance, difficulty concentrating, thoughts about death and difficulty transitioning back to a civilian world. Matt addresses the emotional intensity and painful loss of his romantic relationship in the war zone. The abrupt and unexplained disappearance of his lover Danielle has left him feeling sad and confused, and he questions whether or not the relationship he had with her ever existed.

Matt, being a combat medic, could have been assessed with “compassion fatigue”, i.e. burn-out experienced by health care providers.

Issues Addressed in Therapy Matt began therapy to deal with traumatic symptoms related to his war experiences, including depression, sleeplessness, anxiety, hyper-vigilance, difficulty concentrating, thoughts about death and difficulty transitioning back to a civilian world. Matt addresses the emotional intensity and painful loss of his romantic relationship in the war zone. The abrupt and unexplained disappearance of his lover Danielle has left him feeling sad and confused, and he questions whether or not the relationship he had with her ever existed. The therapist validates that Matt’s love relationship was real as evidenced by the picture as well as his feelings and memories. Matt, being a combat medic, could have been assessed with “compassion fatigue”, i.e. burn-out experienced by health care providers.

Questions What Stages of Change were progressed through? What was done well? What would you do differently?