Behavioral health in space

What do spaceflight and adjusting to life after military service have in common?

Both can be difficult and stressful. There's an adjustment period. And each of them can affect your mental health. Jay Buckey, M.D., professor of medicine at Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine, will deliver the opening keynote address at the April 25-26 Veterans and Military Health Partnership Conference, hosted by the University of Colorado College of Nursing. He will discuss how NASA-supported efforts to help isolate and confinement astronauts can also help veterans.

A former astronaut, Bucky is interested in ways to help people better resolve conflict, manage stress, and improve their mood. These are all important for success during isolation and confinement. He highlights his 16-day spaceflight on Space Shuttle Columbia, the behavioral health work he's done, and how it gives back to Earth.

Buckey's research at NASA focused on creating self-directed, interactive, media-based tools based on cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on helping people think accurately about their situations and take productive actions without making the situation worse.

“How do you feel about your situation? How does that make you act?” he says. “Sometimes we assess situations inaccurately. It's helpful to take a step back and consider whether the situation is not as bad as we think.”

He says each mission is different and has its own challenges, whether it's space or military, so it's important to give people the skills to know how to deal with situations productively.

“We're all humans, we're all emotions. We're all going to have conflicts, we're going to have stress. It's going to happen, but what really matters is how we deal with it,” Bucky says. “We can't let things get worse. We can't let conflicts smolder beneath the surface and surface at inopportune times. You’ll be able to do more and solve things.”

focus on mental health

This tool also focuses on depression and low mood. He says depression is very common and people often don't want to admit they have depression or seek help for depression.

“These tools may help veterans who don't want to talk to others about feeling depressed,” he says. “These are tools you can use on your own to focus on your mental health.”

He says that when people are depressed, they tend to avoid solving problems.He says it makes them feel bad, but on the other hand solve Problems will help improve your mood. One of his behavioral health tools that Buckey has been working on, problem-solving therapy, is based on helping people identify problems over which they have some control and work on solving them.

“For example, if your boss is an asshole, that's something you can't control,” he says. “You can't change your boss, but you can think of other things you can do depending on your situation. Maybe you don't interact with others at work or feel isolated from others.” These are things you can work on and make a plan on how to solve step by step.”

“Solving a problem gives you a sense of knowing what's going on,” he adds. “And once you develop that sense of mastery, you'll be able to improve your mood on your own without drugs.”

this can happen to anyone

Bucky's keynote speech will focus on mental health in space, but he said the content of his speech applies to everyone.

“The kinds of things that happen during long-duration missions in space, in Antarctica, etc., could happen to any of us,” he says. “People can use these tools to better address issues when they arise.”

The Partnership for Veterans and Military Health Conference began in 2020. It focuses on bringing together different approaches to the treatment and care of veterans, military personnel, and their families. The conference will include speakers, panel discussions, and veterans' perspectives on important issues facing them.