week 10 paper

Lieutenant Commander Malstrom from the media. LTC Malstrom is displaying physical symptoms of PTSD such as problems with his speech and remembering simple words such as bowl (Laureate Education, 2014g). He also feeling numb or non-empathetic towards others when he should. The example he gave in the media was when one of his assistant’s son was brutally murdered on his doorstep in front of his daughter, all he could think was “it’s just one person, have the funeral and get back to work” (Laureate Education, 2014g). LTC Malstrom is also getting agitated and upset more easily and over small things which were causing him and his family to have difficulties to where his wife threatened to leave him if he did not seek help.

Lt. Commander Malmstrom.  In the video Lt. Commander Malmstrom points out multiple PTSD symptoms which included: flashbacks, intrusive memories, trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, and irritability (Laureate Education, 2014). As a result of these PTSD symptoms he has now displayed lack of empathy and has said that CPR dummies reminded him of lost Soldiers and seeing dead animals alongside the road would trigger him (Laureate Education, 2014). For Lt. Commander Malmstrom, not having empathy in his line of work is not good, I think it can also be viewed as a form of numbing.

One way I would support Lt. Commander Malmstrom and have the proper supervision. Strong clinical supervision fosters a trainee’s professional development, instilling and developing necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes while monitoring and safeguarding client welfare and promoting ethical practice on the part of the trainee (Johnson, Johnson, & Landsing, 2018). Although Lt. Commander Malstrom is not a trainee, he could use some supervision as a mental health care provider (MHP) to ensure that while he is going through his trauma, he is still able to support and be there for the soldiers that need him. I believe that this could also help to mitigate secondary trauma and be therapeutic, because it also allows for him to interact with someone who is hearing or witnessing traumas, he himself deals with and it allows him to have a physical and emotional safe space for him. Another way I would support Lt. Commander Malmstrom would be to have him participate in group therapy. I think that it would help him to express his issues and experienced traumas with other who can genuinely relate to him.

One way I would mitigate vicarious or secondary trauma for Lt. Commander Malmstrom is to have him take up a therapeutic hobby that he enjoys. This will help him to relieve some of his stress in a healthy way, as well as to take his mind off of the traumatic things he experiences.