Originally posted May 2, 2008
For those of us who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, it is no surprise to find that the stress of combat has a lasting and profound effect on our state of mental health. Additionally, it is well recognized among service men and women that the homecoming is rarely a teary-eyed movie-like reunion where everybody will live happily ever after. After safely coming home, one must reintegrate with "normal" life and begin to process the stress and rigor of deployment. To compound matters, you as a Soldier, Sailor or Marine are not alone in suffering the after effects of combat. The stress of war is felt by soldiers and their family members alike. For those of us who have experienced the redeployment and reintegration process, these statements are not a startling revelation. However, to the public at large, the day to day issues of combat related mental illness is an abstract and murky concept. This week, the American Psychiatric Association released a survey of mental health issues that are faced by service men and women and their spouses. There were no shocking revelations in the survey, but it did serve to validate many of the issues that commanders and military mental health officials have been dealing with for the past few years.
The primary finding of the survey is that stigma is still playing a major role in preventing service members and military spouses from getting the mental health care they need. Overall, military members (71%) and military spouses (75%) rate their current mental health as excellent or good. But many of the respondents report experiencing symptoms of mental health issues, including stress, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, and feeling depressed. This incongruity could be attributed to the fact that half of military members (49%) and spouses (53%) said they are somewhat or not at all knowledgeable about the warning signs of mental health issues. Although 68% of military members say that they know where to seek help for mental health concerns, more than half (53%) believe that others will think less of them if they do seek help. Additionally, 61% of military members, and 53% of spouses believe that seeking mental health treatment would have at least some negative impact on their or their spouses' career. 28% of service members and 25% of spouses think that it would have a moderate or great deal of impact.
In order to overcome this "damaged goods" mentality we must move beyond issues of pride, macho bravado, or fear and look at mental injuries as we would any other injury. As veterans and concerned citizens alike, we must change our way of thinking about mental health injuries and begin to look at them as we would any physical injury. Like physical injuries, mental health problems arise as an effect of trauma. If we break our arm, we seek help to heal the wound, not let it hang until it is no longer useful. When we suffer mental health injuries it is critical that we acknowledge the wound, and seek treatment so we can fight another day.
Reports like the one the APA released this week help a great deal toward removing the stigma attached to combat related mental injuries. Acknowledgment and help from the civilian sector are critical as a taxed military mental health system works overtime to deal with the flood of patients coming off the battle field. As veterans we must make it our mission to reach out to our wounded comrades and help the general public understand our trials and experiences in order to better reintegrate in to the civilian world.
No comments:
Post a Comment