Mental Health among Military Personnel

Mental Health among Military Personnel

Introduction

In today’s world, institutions are continuously being held accountable for their impact on their workforce, society, and the environment. While employers lookout for strategies on how to match up with these expectations in the coming decades. The current mental health crisis within the United States Military is a challenge in need of immediate action. Between 1999 and 2017, suicide increased in the United States by thirty-three percent. In the last six years alone, more than forty-five thousand active-duty military personnel and veterans died through suicide (McLean et al., 2019). This was more than the combined deaths reported in combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq. Active-duty soldiers from the United States military are more likely to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and are also more likely to receive emotional or psychological counseling more than their colleagues in active duty personnel in non-combats zones (Greer et al., 20190 This paper believes that the United States is losing the war against mental health and suicide among military personnel and veterans.

U.S. soldiers have pointed out several barriers to seeking treatment for mental health problems. These barriers exist both in attitudinal and structural form. Attitudinal involves negative attitudes towards professionals of metal health and stigma-related concerns, while structural barriers include difficulties in scheduling or attending appointments and financial limitations. According to a study by Naifeh et al. (2016) many soldiers did not see need for treatment because of  “the Army’s socio-demographic profile (mostly young males), which is associated with decreased help-seeking, personality traits associated with voluntary military service, and the effects of Army training and culture on attitudes toward self-reliance and willingness to acknowledge personal problems” (1023, 1024). This means that the government has not done enough to ensure military personnel pay importance to the need for mental health treatment.

Stigma has been identified as the major affecting treatment-seeking behavior among military personnel. According to Sharp et al. 2015, sixty percent of military personnel experiencing mental health problems do not seek help, yet they could benefit from professional treatment (144). Statements such as “my unit leadership might treat me differently” and “I would be seen as weak” are popular with soldiers who fail to seek treatment. Stigma issues within the military-related to the treatment of leadership to persons diagnosed or receiving treatment of mental health and the perception of weakness from their team members. This shows the power of perception regarding help-seeking behavior.

The current disparities in access to proper mental healthcare have created a crisis in the U.S. mental healthcare system. According to Hoerster (2012), the high suicide rate among military personnel returning home can be attributed to several other factors (381). Data from the Department of Defense (DOD) shows that from 2011 to 2014, suicide rates in the United States increased by eighteen percent. While it is possible to address suicide in the civilian population through community-based mental health treatment providers such as (BCRI) Baltimore Crises Response Inc. which has inpatient beds for treatment of patients with substance abuse and mental health, mobile response teams to a crisis, with a Crisis Response Hotline, this has proven efficient in reducing suicide rates among the civilian population in areas such as Baltimore. On the other hand, resources are usually not readily available in many Veterans Assistance Hospitals. This is due to a lack of support for such crisis intervention and a shortage of essential mental health personnel.

There are excessive wait times when it comes to seeking treatment by veterans and active-duty personnel (DOD, 2011). There have been complaining by active-duty personnel and their family members on the delays of receiving TRICARE. Appointments take a very long time, and there are challenges in locating TRICARE accepting providers (Bagchi et al., 2007). VHA policy requires that first-time patients should be seen within twenty-four hours for a first-time evaluation with a follow-through examination fourteen days later. However, study into the VHA access to mental healthcare determined that it is impossible to identify if VHA following through with the regulations (V.A. Office of the Inspector General, 2012). Patients were not provided with timely services as the time needed to see the first time patients usually took more than four hours while the mental health exams often took more than fourteen days.

Most mental health facilities assigned to veterans and active-duty personnel are not geographically easily accessible. Most active-duty personnel and their families live within twenty miles of the facilities and forty miles within inpatient services (DOD, 2011). According to Fortney et al. (2011), long travel distances have little impact on patients who need high-level treatment care compared to patients with lower-level care needs, such as substance abuse patients (643).

This essay recognizes that efforts have been made to improve the current status of mental healthcare. The following are counterarguments showing that there is still hope for success in the war against mental health.

The uniqueness of the challenges of veterans and military personnel mental health presents an opportunity for the veteran communities and the military to lead in a significant way. The United States military is the largest employer in the world and has a massive influence on those who serve under it (Staglin & Van Dahlen, 2019). According to APHA, the Veterans Health Administration operates the largest network of integrated healthcare management delivery system, providing care to over six million veteran patients.

The United States military has made efforts to increase the capacity of the mental healthcare workforce. This has facilitated evidence-based treatment and improved screenings of depression. Moreover, in March 2019, the president ratified Executive Order 13861 to fast track efforts that are already in place to address the epidemic of suicide plaguing the United States. The PREVENTS (Presidents Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide) is an interagency cabinet-level initiative tasked with the responsibility of developing the first public approach at addressing suicide (Staglin & Van Dahlen, 2019). PREVENT will majorly be facilitated by research to identify strategies of improving treatment for all Americans and particularly military personnel and veterans. According to Staglin & Van Dahlen (2019), there exist research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and several thorough suicide prevention approaches in use today from the RAND Corporation.

There are efforts assisting veterans to smoothly tranced back into the life of civilians.  This is actualized by ensuring that military veterans have meaningful and stable career options after their military service (Staglin & Van Dahlen, 2019). Staglin & Van Dahlen, (2019) say that the best way to improve the career options for veterans is by the development of private-public sector multidimensional partnerships that not only provides incentives for the private sector to hire Veterans. It also offers a measure of the best treatment of veterans as part of their benefits – particularly peers to peer support.

Conclusion

Barriers to mental healthcare access to veterans and active-duty personnel include stigma, the culture of the military, treatment attitudes, long wait times, and geographical accessibility. There is a sustained high stigma prevalence with mental health issues and their treatment. Much active duty personnel is worried about their career development and how it can be affected by being diagnosed with a mental health problem. There may be hope after the president signed an executive order requiring research into prevention mechanisms for suicide.