Pentagon Task Force Criticizes Military's Mental Health System

Jun 18, 02:49 PM

Current Headlines: By Dale Eisman, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Jun. 16--WASHINGTON -- Thousands of U.S. troops are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with psychological wounds that are not reported to or fully treated by the military's medical system, a Pentagon task force reported Friday.

The year long study, ordered by Congress, found that about one-third of soldiers and Marines and nearly half of the National Guardsmen returning from deployments report psychological symptoms.

Many other service members probably suffer emotional strain or trauma but do not report them, either out of embarrassment or concern that an admission of emotional distress will imperil their careers, task force leaders suggested.

"Despite the dedicated work of its members, the current system is not structured to address these new challenges, leaving many psychological health needs unmet," the report said.

"Without a fundamental realignment of services, this situation will worsen," the report added.

The 64-page report included 95 recommendations, many of which will require hiring additional doctors, counselors or other health care providers and implementing new treatment programs.

Task force leaders acknowledged that adopting the proposals could be expensive, but the report did not include a price tag.

"We didn't try to quantify the personnel or financial resources that would be required," said Vice Adm. Don Arthur, the Navy surgeon general and a co-chairman of the task force.

Besides additional programs and people, the report said the military must attack a social stigma that surrounds emotional difficulties and discourages service members from reporting or seeking help for psychological problems.

"It is difficult at times to see a mental health provider unless you feel that it is supported by your chain of command and there are no negative repercussions, either personally or professionally," Arthur told reporters at a briefing Friday at the Pentagon.

He said military physicians "expect that everyone who comes back from combat will be significantly affected. And we want to ensure that people don't get to the point of having a post-traumatic stress disorder, because we have paid attention to ... that normal reaction to combat."

S. Ward Cassells, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said that while the report found gaps in mental health care, each of the service branches has some successful programs.

The Navy, for example, has established 13 "deployment health centers," with plans to open four more this year. The centers are set up to deal with a variety of health concerns for sailors and Marines headed overseas -- about one-third of their employees are mental health professionals.

Officials think integrating psychological services with other medical services could eliminate the stigma a sailor or Marine might feel by going to a mental health clinic.

The Army has taken a different approach, creating a psychological training program called Battleminds that the service made mandatory in March.

The program works with soon-to-deploy soldiers in small groups, pushing them to discuss what combat might be like, said Col. Carl Castro, its principal developer, in an April interview.

Trainers use videos, pictures and accounts from people who have been under fire. If soldiers know how they might react -- sweating, zoning out, feeling time slow down to a crawl -- they will do better processing the event afterward, Castro said.

"One of the things we talk about is, What is it we're asking soldiers to do? What is combat?" Castro said. "It involves two key components: killing other people, and these other people who are trying to kill our soldiers.

"It goes both ways, and both can have a toll."

Army officials also finalized a $33 million contract this week to add about 200 mental health professionals to the Army's medical staff, The Associated Press reported.

The number of mental health workers "that was adequate for a peacetime military is not adequate for a nation that's been at war," Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general, told The AP.

-----

To see more of the The Virginian-Pilot, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pilotonline.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.