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PENTAGON PANEL WARNS OF MENTAL STRESS ON
TROOPS -- Repeated deployments putting already-
strained troops at greater risk of mental
health
problems. Military healthcare system won't
be able to handle needs.
We have two stories... first from the AP
... and second is the DoD press release.
AP story here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/0
3/AR2007050301402.html
Story below:
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Pentagon Panel Warns of Mental Strains
By HOPE YEN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The military is putting already-strained troops at greater
risk of mental health problems because of repeated deployments to Iraq
and Afghanistan, a Pentagon panel said Thursday in warning of an
overburdened health system.
Issuing an urgent warning, the Defense Department's Task Force on Mental
Health chaired by Navy Surgeon General Donald Arthur said more than
one-third of troops and veterans currently suffer from problems such as
traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
With an escalating Iraq war, those numbers are expected to worsen, and
current staffing and money for military health care won't be able to
meet the need, the group said in a preliminary report released Thursday.
"The system of care for psychological health that has evolved in recent
decades is not sufficient to meet the needs of today's forces and their
beneficiaries, and will not be sufficient to meet the needs in the
future," the 14-member group says.
Branding Pentagon policies overly conservative and out-of-date, the task
force called for more money and a fundamental shift in treatment to
focus on prevention and screening _ rather than simply relying on
soldiers to come forward on their own.
It cited a significant stigma in which soldiers believe they would be
ridiculed or their careers damaged if they were to acknowledge having
problems.
The four-page summary of findings, which will be incorporated in a final
report to Defense Secretary Robert Gates in June, comes amid renewed
attention on troop and veterans care following recent disclosures of
shoddy outpatient treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The task force found 38 percent of soldiers and 31 percent of Marines
report psychological concerns such as traumatic brain injury and
post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from deployment.
Among members of the National Guard, the figure is much higher _ 49
percent _ with numbers expected to grow because of repeated deployments.
In recent weeks, several U.S. senators have pointed to problems in the
Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs' mental health care, citing
the Army's Fort Carson in Colorado where some troops have said their
pleas for mental health care went unanswered or were met with ridicule.
In its report, the task force _ which visited 38 military bases in the
four armed services within the past year _ underscored many of the
lawmakers' fears. Without citing specific examples, it said soldiers too
often don't seek the care they need.
Care for family members also needed improvement, the report said.
Many base mental health programs have had to limit their practices to
active-duty military, shutting family members out or forcing them to try
to access civilian providers through the cooperative program known as
Tricare. But in many places, the list of Tricare providers is small,
inadequate or even incorrect.
Both the VA and the Pentagon in recent weeks have acknowledged a need to
improve mental health treatment. Jan Kemp, a VA associate director for
education who works on mental health, has estimated there are up to
1,000 suicides a year among veterans within the VA system, and as many
as 5,000 a year among all living veterans.
A recent investigation by the Government Accountability Office found
that just 22 percent of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan
who showed signs of PTSD were being referred by Pentagon health care
providers for mental health evaluation, citing inconsistent and
subjective standards in determining when treatment was needed.
___
On the Net:
Defense Department:
http://www.defenselink.mil
---------------
DoD press release here...
http://www.defenselink.mil//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=33055
Press release below:
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Defense Department Releases Findings of Mental
Health Assessment
By Sgt. Sara Wood,
USA
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, - The military has a robust system in place to deal with
mental health issues, but longer and more frequent deployments are
causing strain on servicemembers, a Defense Department study has found.
The fourth Mental Health Advisory Team survey, MHAT IV as this survey
was called, was conducted in August and September. For the first time,
the survey included Marines in the study group. The MHAT was composed of
behavioral health professionals who deployed to Iraq and surveyed
soldiers, Marines, health care providers, and chaplains, Army Maj. Gen.
Gale Pollock, the acting surgeon general of the Army, told reporters at
the Pentagon.
The MHAT IV team found that not all soldiers and Marines deployed to
Iraq are at equal risk for screening positive for a mental health
symptom, and the level of combat is the main determining factor of a
servicemember’s mental health status, Pollock said. For soldiers,
deployment length and family separation were the top non-combat
deployment issues, whereas Marines had fewer non-combat deployment
issues, probably because of their shorter deployment periods, she said.
The team recommended behavioral outreach efforts that focus on units
that are in theater longer than six months and determined that shorter
deployments or longer intervals between deployments would allow soldiers
and Marines better opportunities to reset mentally before returning to
combat.
Pollock said these findings contributed to the Army’s decision to extend
combat deployments to 15 months, because it gave the units waiting to
deploy more time at their home stations. Congress has authorized the
Defense Department to increase the strength the Army, she noted, which
will help increase time at home between deployments for soldiers.
Fifteen-month deployments will be stressful for servicemembers, Pollock
acknowledged, and that’s why it’s important for leaders to be trained in
behavioral health issues.
“We've got more attention now on the importance of leadership, and I
think that's one of the strengths that the team really identified, is
that with good leadership, even when people may have a bad thought, they
don't act on that thought,” she said. “So it's very important that we
ensure that the young leaders have the training so they know how to
support the troops that depend on them.”
For the first time since the MHAT program was started in 2003, this
assessment included questions about battlefield ethics, Pollock said. Of
those surveyed, 10 percent of soldiers and Marines reported mistreating
noncombatants or damaging property when it was not necessary, she said.
The survey also found that only 47 percent of soldiers and 38 percent of
Marines agreed that noncombatants should be treated with dignity and
respect. More than one-third of all soldiers and Marines reported that
torture should be allowed to save the life of a fellow soldier or
Marine, and less than half of soldiers or Marines said they would report
a team member for unethical behavior.
In the report, mistreating noncombatants was defined as either stealing
from a noncombatant, destroying or damaging property when it wasn’t
necessary, or hitting or kicking a noncombatant.
These findings may seem alarming, Pollock said, but it is important to
keep them in perspective. These troops have been seeing their friends
killed and injured, and anger is a normal reaction, she said. However,
what’s important to note is that the troops who had these thoughts did
not act on them and actually mistreat any noncombatants.
“What it speaks to is the leadership that the military is providing,
because they're not acting on those thoughts,” she said. “They're not
torturing the people. And I think it speaks very well to the level of
training that we have in the military today.”
Other key findings of the report include:
-- The 2006 adjusted rate of suicides per 100,000 soldiers in Operation
Iraqi Freedom was 17.3 soldiers, lower than the 19.9 rate reported in
2005, but higher than the Army average of 11.6 per 100,000 soldiers.
-- Soldiers experienced mental health problems at a higher rate than
Marines.
-- Deployment length was directly linked to morale problems in the Army.
-- Leadership is key to maintaining soldier and Marine mental health.
-- Both soldiers and Marines reported at relatively high rates -- 62 and
66 percent, respectively -- that they knew someone seriously injured or
killed, or that a member of their team had become a casualty.
-- Only 5 percent of soldiers reported taking in-theater rest and
relaxation leave, although the average time deployed was nine months.
-- Multiple deployers reported higher acute stress than first-time
deployers. Deployment length was related to higher rates of mental
health problems and marital problems.
-- Current suicide prevention training is not designed for a combat
environment.
-- Behavioral health providers require additional combat and operational
stress-control training prior to deploying to Iraq.
Since the MHAT IV report was presented to the Multinational Force Iraq
commander and service leaders in November, the Army and Marines have
implemented changes to improve behavioral health care, Pollock said. The
Army has revised teaching curriculum and operational training to include
more focus on Army values, suicide prevention, battlefield ethics, and
behavioral health awareness in all junior-leader-development courses,
she said.
The Marine Corps has been developing deployment-cycle training since
2003, said Navy Capt. William P. Nash, coordinator of the
Combat/Operational Stress Control Branch of the service’s Manpower and
Reserve Affairs directorate. Marines, leaders and families all receive
training in identifying, managing and preventing mental health problems,
he said.
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Larry Scott --
