What Is Mental Health?
Mental health affects how we think, feel, and behave. It is a state of mental, emotional, social, and psychological well-being. Mental health is a human right and crucial to everyone's personal, community, and socio-economic development.
Some of the factors that may affect mental health may include,
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Socio-economic conditions.
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Occupation.
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Social involvement.
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Education.
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Housing quality.
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Gender.
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Age.
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Ethnicity.
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Nationality.
What Does Military Mental Health Mean?
Mental personnel is exposed to various risks, challenges, and highly stressful situations. Long hours, staying away from home, and adjusting to civilian life are just some of the difficulties they face. In addition, they must work in stressful and traumatic situations and experience physical injuries. It may be experienced even after several years in service or returning to civilian life. In addition, many personnel may experience difficulties coping with their family members and feel socially excluded.
What Are the Common Mental Problems Found in Military Personnel?
The most common mental health problem seen in military personnel is depression.
They may also experience,
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Anxiety.
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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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Alcohol problems.
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Substance abuse.
Anxiety - Military members often struggle with anxiety and mental health challenges. Anxiety can manifest as physical and emotional symptoms such as irritability, increased heart rate, trouble sleeping, and nausea. Intense anxiety and fear of being judged or rejected can be difficult, and it may be hard to hold jobs or go out and participate with family and friends. Severe anxiety can also cause panic and anxiety attacks, including sweating, chest pain, dizziness, or numbness. The key to this is to work out the root cause and provide proper counseling and support.
Depression - Military services demand commitment and prolonged separation from family members. An individual experiencing depression can show symptoms such as low mood, negative thoughts, and loss of interest in any activities. People working in the military are more vulnerable to developing depression than their civilian counterparts due to the unique aspects of military service. Soldiers operate under high-performance expectations and in stressful environments, which can exacerbate the underlying symptoms of depression. This can be especially difficult with expectations to show bravery in dangerous conditions. One study noted that depressed soldiers appear more aggressive, self-critical, angry, and overly involved with work.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - Depression is often associated with PTSD and may add complexity to the treatment. Certain stressful and traumatic events, such as fights between two groups of defense forces (military combat), physical attacks, disasters, or intentional sexual abuse, can cause adverse effects such as trouble sleeping, nightmares, and anger. As a result, military service members suffering from trauma can have an increased risk of developing clinical depression. The main signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may include having nightmares that may bring back the trauma one had gone through, negative beliefs and avoiding situations that may remind one of the events, difficulty concentrating, and being easily startled, even by loud noises such as sirens. The intensity of these symptoms can cause them to avoid experiences that trigger symptoms and makes them emotionally detached or withdrawn. Chronic PTSD affects biological, psychological, and behavioral processes and results in severe functional impairment, reduced quality of life, and high comorbidity with medical and other psychiatric disorders.
Substance Abuse - This can be a warning sign that the person is struggling to cope with the trauma that they have experienced. This may include drinking excessively, abusing pain pills prescribed for injuries, or taking marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. This can develop into a substance use disorder known as SUD. Those involved in several deployments tend to have a higher risk of developing substance abuse issues. This is related to experiencing numerous traumas, including witnessing death or severe injury to others or becoming seriously injured. Lengthy deployments tend to put military service members under unusual work stress that may contribute to substance abuse issues.
Alcohol - The use of alcohol and other drug abuse can affect the service members' readiness, discipline, and mental and physical health. Drinking is an acceptable part of military culture. It is taken to unwind or cope with the challenges of military life. It may handle stress, boredom, and loneliness and avoid negative feelings.
However, excessive drinking can impact physical and mental health. Often, those diagnosed with PTSD appear to have heavy alcohol intake. In addition, dependency on alcohol can cause signs of depression, anxiety, a mental disorder associated with hallucinations, and offensive or antisocial behavior.
Severe disorders such as major depression or schizophrenia may be grounded for medical discharge or retirement, depending on the severity and amenability to the treatment. The warrants of discharge or retirement are granted if the condition interferes significantly with duty performance.
Effect of Mental Illness on Service Members:
Nearly one in every four active military personnel is known to show some sign of mental health condition. A mental illness or a history of a severe mental disorder can technically prohibit one from military service. A study in 2014 stated that 25 percent of non-deployed United States military members had mental disorders, such as panic disorder (an anxiety disorder when the person experiences sudden attacks of fear or pain regularly), depression, and attention-deficit or hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
What Can a Military Personnel with Mental Health Issues Do?
Many members of the military refrain from seeking treatment for their depression or other mental illnesses. This is primarily due to failure to recognize symptoms, while others may worry about the stigma of depression as a sign of weakness. Military culture may make the stigma of seeking mental health more significant than in a non-military setting. If one is currently serving and is worried about mental health, one can speak to any medical officer or commander.
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The most effective approach is to adapt to the best practice standards within the military culture. Research has shown that military service members prefer to receive psychological treatment from a provider with military experience.
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Alcohol misuse screening tests such as alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) may be done during the periodic health assessment. Service members, particularly those exposed to recent military-related trauma, should be screened for suspected alcohol misuse.
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A 24-hour helpline, "Combat Stress," runs in partnership with the Ministry of Defence. They provide confidential emotional support to current and former military personnel. Combat stress provides counseling, residential treatment, peer support, and self-help resources.
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The personnel may be referred to specialist services in cases requiring expert advice. These provide medication, counseling, talking therapy, and social support.
Conclusion:
The appearance of strength and resilience predominantly defines military culture. More efforts should be made to identify mental illnesses in military service members and provide them with early treatment. All serving military personnel can receive mental health care commissioned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Maintaining mental health in the military is a challenging priority. The scope of mental health problems in military service personnel helps to determine the best recruits for various military specialties. Therefore, it is crucial to have better health services programs and counseling. The provision of social services and the establishment of resources and resilience-building programs can help to facilitate treatment.
