Military Sexual Trauma: Current Knowledge and Future Directions showcases the work of several prominent military sexual trauma (MST) researchers, scholars, and clinicians from across the United States. A review of existing research and original empirical findings converge to indicate that MST contributes to a range of physical health problems, complex posttraumatic responses, and other mental health consequences above and beyond the effects of other types of traumatic experiences. This collection also presents evidence suggesting that MST is often difficult to identify both within the individual military member and within the military population as a whole. Recommendations are offered for addressing this problem. In addition to the research review and empirical findings, an evolutionary framework for understanding sexual assault of women in the military is presented. Taken together, this collection of works may inform MST intervention and prevention efforts.
This book was originally published as a special issue of Journal of Trauma & Dissociation.