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Alpha-Stim Team Urges Lawmakers to Revise Mental Health Protocol for Service Members and Veterans

Pictured in above image: Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer, EPI President Tracey B. Kirsch, Representative Mike Conaway, and EPI Board Member Chris Weidenhammer. 

As a nation, we rely on our military men and women to protect us; we admire their bravery and owe a debt of gratitude to their selfless service. Service Members risk so much by serving. They should, in turn, be offered only the absolute best in care for their physical and mental wellbeing, both while they serve and long after.

Practitioners in the Department of Defense and the Veterans Affairs Administration must adhere to certain guidelines when treating Servicemen and Servicewomen, to ensure a standard of care across the nation. Alpha-Stim® is recognized by and included in these joint guidelines as an effective treatment for pain. It is a handheld medical device that delivers drug-free relief directly to the site of pain through two Smart Probes. Alpha-Stim is a key part of the U.S. Navy Pain Management Program and the alternative medicine center at William Beaumont Army Medical Center. Its pain relief is so powerful that it even helped one veteran avoid amputation of both of his legs.

EPI Board Member Chris Weidenhammer, President Tracey B. Kirsch, Senator Ted Cruz, and Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer
EPI Board Member Chris Weidenhammer, President Tracey B. Kirsch, Senator Ted Cruz, and Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer

Alpha-Stim is also proven to treat anxiety, insomnia, and depression – all of which can plague current Service Members and Veterans. It is incorporated in the healing program at Intrepid Spirit Centers and has been proven effective by Walter Reed National Military Medical Center’s Psychiatry Continuity Service. Frustratingly, however, Alpha-Stim is not included in the VA and DoD guidelines for mental health protocol, despite the evidence of its effectiveness. For this reason, EPI President Tracey B. Kirsch, Board Member Chris Weidenhammer, and Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer traveled to Washington, DC, to meet with lawmakers.

The intention of the team was to bring to the lawmakers’ attention the need to include Alpha-Stim in the joint guidelines for mental health treatment for Service Members and Veterans. In addition to the numerous studies proving the effectiveness of Alpha-Stim, the team also presented the finding that the National Health Service saves roughly $700 per patient by using Alpha-Stim instead of the current treatment standard of cognitive behavioral therapy. In other words, not only is Alpha-Stim the more effective mental health treatment, but the more affordable one as well.

Because Alpha-Stim is not a drug, there is no risk of addiction, lasting side effects, or withdrawal. Results are cumulative over time; patients often find that they need fewer and fewer treatments as their symptoms improve. This is in stark contrast to medications, which often need increased dosages over time to maintain their effectiveness. Even so, there is also no risk of overuse, and Alpha-Stim can be used in conjunction with other treatment modalities as well.

Alpha-Stim is a powerful tool that has been proven time and again to improve the mental health – and therefore, the lives – of our nation’s men and women in uniform. That there are bureaucratic barriers preventing the use of this technology in those who stand to benefit from it is unacceptable. By bringing the issue to the attention of lawmakers, EPI hopes to make relief more accessible to those who have given so much – it’s what they deserve.


*FDA cleared for anxiety, insomnia and pain only, with approval for depression outside of the United States.

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