Mental Health Issues in the Military

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Mental Health Issues in the Military

Mental Health Issues in the Military

Research has shown that there are growing incidents of mental health issues in the military more than any other occupation. This fact can be triggered by the experiences the military goes through such as bombing, torture if taken hostage, accidents, bombing from terror attacks, being shot at, and having to kill among other incidents that are quite traumatic as well as stressful. Some other traumatic incidents and experiences that cause trauma to every person are deep pains, witnessing serious injuries, losing close people suddenly and dealing with dangerous situations. These incidents become the order of the day in the battlefield where soldiers have to go through them all the time. According to Hourani (2006), “Stress is a ubiquitous occurrence among active duty military personnel and has been associated with a variety of mental health and job performance outcomes,” (p. 849). Therefore, their work is associated with many stressors that are traumatic, hence the increased Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In researches conducted on the mental health issues in the military, much of it has focused on the psychological influences and effects of being exposed to trauma and combat. Considering the nature and environment of the military occupation, there are many traumatic experiences such as the combat and the disasters in the battlefields faced by the soldiers including harsh weather. Some of the stress is not only caused by traumatic events in the line of duty, but also stress from other areas such as family related issues. For those who lacked family support, especially the young militants, were likely to feel alienated, while those having family problems were also likely to be under more stress, which contributed to increased chances of having post-traumatic mental disorders.

A research carried out by Hourani (2006) indicated that, in his test population, 28% of the participants required more screening criteria that indicated they required further mental examination of their mental health. This was more prevalent with younger militants, since as the age got higher, the symptoms for need of further mental examination reduced. This can be attributed to the fact that as the soldiers experienced traumatic events more in line of duty, they were able to handle the stress, as opposed to newer soldiers or younger soldiers. Hourani (2006) found out soldiers at an age of 25 and below showed a two to three times need for mental examination than those at 35 years old or more. The research further showed that those needing mental evaluation had higher work related stress than family related stress. This further suggested that military environment was prone to stress levels likely to cause post-traumatic stress disorders.

The Nature and Cause of PTSD

According to Abigail et al (2007), mental disorder is one of the leading causes of disability in the whole world. This is well presented in the United States armed forces where mental disorders cause a significant occupational burden, being the number one cause of hospitalization for men, while it is second in causing pregnancy related hospitalization for women. In addition, 6% of the entire United States military members active in duty have received outpatient mental disorder treatment every year, where, “mental illness is the leading medical correlate of attrition from military services.

PTSD is a very complex disorder in the brain that results from extreme stressors that consist of compromising group intrusion, evasion and arousal symptoms. This is well illustrated in the military that consists of the majority of people suffering from PTSD. Before young people are recruited for military training, they undergo serious screening and tests for any sign of health issues including mental and physical. Nobody with a mental health disorder can be allowed to join the military. However, considering that military shows the highest number of people suffering from PTSD; it serves to illustrate the cause of the condition as being stressing experiences and trauma. It is well known that military environment has some of the most traumatic incidents especially violent one that would cause stress to the members. Thus, when in extreme stress and distress among other factors, the military members end up with post-traumatic stress disorders because of stressing factors they have to deal with in most harsh environments with minimal treatment.

The disorders are characterized by re-experiencing the trauma that caused the stress, which is in the form of intrusive thoughts, nightmares, dissociative flashbacks or even severe reminders of the stress that caused trauma. These are usually considered the characteristic of traumatic stress, which are the focus by literal studies on the disorder. Therefore, post-traumatic stress disorder is a scenario where a person keeps remembering the traumatic incidents to a point of having nightmares when they remember them. Thus, the cause of post-traumatic stress disorder is stressful experiences that cause panic and despair when remembered. One factor that would cause memory of such traumatic incidents is the effect that might have been caused such as physical injuries from an explosion where one loses a leg. This remains as a constant reminder of the traumatic events, causing unbearable stress that cause the post-traumatic stress disorder.

Work Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

As discussed, PTSD is caused by traumatic experiences that result in extreme stress. For instance, incidents such as explosions that might leave some dead and others injured cause trauma and depression. Therefore, the degree of exposure to traumatic events and experiences as well as lack of social support when most needed in lines of duty determines work-related traumatic disorder (Travis et al, 2010). For solders, it is obvious that their work is related to traumatic events and experiences. Some of the events in the military that tend to have higher levels of traumatic experiences are during combat situations, where there is exchange of fire and probability of death.

It was found that amongst deplorers in combat-specific occupations had a larger percentage of being diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety-related conditions in their second to third deployment than in the first one. However, for many of the conditions causing PTSD and related disorders, larger percentage was affected after the first exposure in their deployments. Military persons are usually deployed to war most of the time especially in United States. Considering war is among the most traumatic stressors that are known to man, those in this career are likely to have work-related posttraumatic stress disorders due to the stress caused by the traumatic events of the war. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the most experienced war-related disorders were PTSD, anxiety disorders, and depression. For some, it was the effect of seeing people especially loved ones die by their side, as well as seeing physical injuries on others or undergoing traumatic pain from injuries. It was realized that the military has the highest prevalence of depression, anxiety as well as substance abuse such as alcohol (Travis et al, 2010).

Therefore, it can be concluded that military has the highest levels of work-related post-traumatic disorders caused by the environment in which their work forces them to be. Being in combat is recorded as the highest cause of the post-traumatic disorders in the military, considering this is where the full action takes place. Many of the military members are left with traumatic images and effects of the combat situations including physical effects and emotional distress. In recent articles, this has been illustrated by the upsurge in mental illness disorders observed in the troops returning from Iraq.

Prevention and Early Intervention

Considering the level of exposure to traumatic events and experiences in war, it may not be easy to eliminate post-traumatic stress disorders in the military. To eliminate it would mean eliminating war, which is not possible with conflicting issues in different pats of the world as well as terrorists. However, the disorders can be prevented and intervened at an early stage before the stress becomes a mental disorder. In order to enhance prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder, the military would need some training of handling the stressing events they experience during wars. They can be taught on several techniques of coping with such situations. These skills should be focused on helping the military adapt to their deployments before and after (Travis et al, 2010).

In order to help the military from hospitalization due to post-traumatic disorders, early intervention can be done to help them deal with the events after leaving their deployment. The best method to use for coping with such traumatic incidents is the WRAP plan, which aims at helping the victims in improving their abilities in taking up their responsibilities to enhance their own improvement, use self-help techniques for reducing and managing their mental health issues and symptoms using several techniques. In addition, it seeks to ensure effective learning skills meant for reaching out to others and using support (Fukui et al, 2011). WRAP seeks to see a victim improve through individualized plans that can help them identify progress of their mental health. Thus, the plan seeks to have the victim undertake the measures towards improvement, and gets help from others. This can be done in a group in order to offer the motivation. Therefore, the victims are supposed to engage in activities that help them improve their mental health, and encourage them to be responsible for their recovery (Fukui et al, 2011). The WRAP has been used in several settings aimed at helping people recover from traumatic incidents (Fukui et al, 2011). It has shown to be an effective tool in management of various psychiatric and physical disabilities causing PTSD. Therefore, the WRAP is highly recommended for the military in order to help them manage their mental health individually rather than having to rely on others all the time.

References

Abigail, L., Garvey, W., Messer, S.C., & Hoge, C.W. (2009). U.S. military mental health care utilization and attrition prior to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatric Epidemiol 44: 473-481.

Fukui S. (2010). Effect of Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) Participation on Psychiatric Symptoms, Sense of Hope, and Recovery. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal 34 (3): 214-222.

Hourani, L.L. (2006). Stress, Mental Health, and Job Performance among Active Duty Military

Personnel: Findings from the 2002 Department of Defense Health-Related Behaviors Survey. Military Medicine 171(9): 849-856.

Travis, K. et al. (2010). One Shot-One Kill: A Culturally Sensitive Program for the Warrior Culture. Military Medicine 175 (7): 509-513.