Tag: Military Service

A Brief Overview of Military Psychiatry

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Introduction

Military psychiatry covers special aspects of psychiatry and mental disorders within the military context. The aim of military psychiatry is to keep as many serving personnel as possible fit for duty and to treat those disabled by psychiatric conditions. Military psychiatry encompasses counselling individuals and families on a variety of life issues, often from the standpoint of life strategy counselling, as well as counselling for mental health issues, substance abuse prevention and substance abuse treatment; and where called for, medical treatment for biologically based mental illness, among other elements.

A military psychiatrist is a psychiatrist—whether uniformed officer or civilian consultant—specialising in the treatment of military personnel and military family members suffering from mental disorders that occur within the statistical norm for any population, as well as those disorders consequent to warfare and also stresses associated with military life.

By Country

Norway

From the 1960s Arne Sund, the chief psychiatrist of the Norwegian Armed Forces medical service, “established Norwegian military psychiatry as leading within NATO” and became the “founder of the research field of disaster psychiatry,” that evolved from military psychiatry.

United States

Active Duty Members

TRICARE is a health programme offered to uniformed service members, national guard or reserve members, survivors, former spouses, Medal of Honour recipients, and their families through the United States Department of Defence Military Health System. Upon enrolment, active duty members and their families gain access to emergency and non-emergency mental health care. In the case of a mental health emergency, members are advised to go to the nearest hospital emergency department. There is no requirement for prior authorization. Admissions must be reported to your regional contractor within 24 hours or the next business day. For non-emergency situations, active duty members must receive a referral and prior authorisation for all mental health care.

Veterans

The United States Department of Veteran Affairs offers mental health care to veterans through enrolment in VA health care. Benefits include emergency and non-emergency care. Emergency mental health care is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through VA medical centres and the Veterans Crisis Line. Non-emergency mental health care services provided include inpatient and outpatient care, rehabilitation treatment and residential (live-in) programmes, and supported work settings. Conditions treated by the VA:

  • Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Depression
  • Suicide prevention
  • Issues related to military sexual trauma (MST)
  • Substance use problems
  • Bipolar disease
  • Schizophrenia
  • Anxiety-related conditions

Epidemiology

Psychiatric disorders have been related to the greatest number of casualties and discharges in several wars. Such conditions typically have somatic manifestations. On-site, emergency psychiatric treatment reduces the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity within the military context.

Notable Military Psychiatrists

  • W.H.R. Rivers (1864–1922)
  • Ernst Rüdin (1874–1952)
  • Arne Sund (1925–2012)
  • Simon Wessely (1956–present)
  • Neil Greenberg (1968–present)
  • General William C. Menninger
  • Nidal Hasan perpetrator of 2009 Fort Hood shooting
  • Yagunov George (1997–present)

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_psychiatry >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

Age at First Drink & Severity of Alcohol Dependence in Military Personnel

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Research Paper Title

Age at first drink and severity of alcohol dependence.

Background

Early age at first drink (AFD) has been linked to early onset and increased severity of alcohol dependence in various studies. Few Indian studies on AFD have shown a negative correlation between AFD and severity of alcohol dependence. The study aimed to explore this relationship in patients with alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) diagnosed using ICD-10 criteria.

Methods

One hundred fifty-one consecutive patients freshly diagnosed with ADS were included in the study, which was conducted at the psychiatry unit of a tertiary care, multispecialty hospital. The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) was used to assess severity of alcohol dependence.

Results

Mean AFD was 24.85 years (range = 13-40 years). Median ASI score was 36 (range = 21 to 57). The study yielded a weak negative correlation (ρ = -.105) between AFD and ASI, which was statistically not significant.

Conclusions

The researchers found no correlation between AFD and severity of alcohol dependence at detection in Indian Armed Forces personnel, which is contrary to what has been reported worldwide and in previous Indian studies. Delayed initiation of alcohol use among those enrolling in the Indian Armed Forces and early detection of alcohol dependence within the military environment are possible explanations.

Reference

Chatterjee, K., Dwivedi, A.K. & Singh, R. (2021) Age at first drink and severity of alcohol dependence. Medical Journal, Armed Forces India. 77(1), pp.70-74. doi: 10.1016/j.mjafi.2019.05.003. Epub 2019 Oct 16.

What is the Impact of Military Service Exposures & Psychological Resilience on the Mental Health Trajectories of Older Male Veterans?

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Research Paper Title

The Impact of Military Service Exposures and Psychological Resilience on the Mental Health Trajectories of Older Male Veterans.

Background

The researchers examine the impact of exposure to the dead, dying, and wounded (DDW) during military service on the later-life depressive symptom trajectories of male United States veterans, using psychological resilience as an internal resource that potentially moderates negative consequences.

Methods

The Health and Retirement Study (2006-2014) and linked Veteran Mail Survey were used to estimate latent growth curve models of depressive symptom trajectories, beginning at respondents’ first report of resilience.

Results

Veterans with higher levels of resilience do not have increased depressive symptoms in later life, despite previous exposure to DDW. Those with lower levels of resilience and previous exposure to DDW experience poorer mental health in later life.

Conclusions

Psychological resilience is important for later-life mental health, particularly for veterans who endured potentially traumatic experiences. The researches discuss the importance acknowledging the role individual resources play in shaping adaptation to adverse life events and implications for mental health service needs.

Reference

Urena, S., Taylor, M.G. & Carr, D.C. (2020) The Impact of Military Service Exposures and Psychological Resilience on the Mental Health Trajectories of Older Male Veterans. Journal of Aging and Health. doi: 10.1177/0898264320975231. Online ahead of print.