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Assessments slated
for returning soldiers
(May
2005 Issue)
By Ami Albernaz
Confronting concerns of what some fear is a looming mental health
crisis among soldiers returning from deployment in the Middle East,
the U.S. Department of Defense will begin administering mental health
assessments to these soldiers months after they have returned home.
The new program, which is to start in June, is intended to prevent
the incidences of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) seen among
veterans of the Vietnam War. A widely publicized New England Journal
of Medicine study appearing last summer found that around one in
six soldiers returning from Iraq - the site of the longest and deadliest
combat since Vietnam - suffered from major depression, PTSD or another
severe mental health affliction within months of returning home.
While soldiers are currently required to complete health questionnaires
within five days of leaving Iraq, only a tiny percentage of returning
troops indicate psychological concerns on these surveys. The new
assessment will be offered three to six months after soldiers have
arrived home, says U.S. Air Force Colonel Joyce Adkins, Ph.D., director
of operational stress and deployment mental health.
"This will be an opportunity to check in with soldiers and ask,
'How are you doing now that you're back with your families? How's
it going back in your community?'" Adkins says. "It's not just to
identify pathology." She adds that soldiers will also be reminded
of psychological services in their communities and told what they
might expect as they continue to adjust to civilian life.
The surveys will include a written component of standardized mental
health scales as well as a one-on-one, oral component.
Terence Keane, Ph.D., associate chief of staff for research and
development at the VA Boston Healthcare System and a PTSD expert,
calls the new program "a tremendous move forward."
"PTSD and related conditions can emerge weeks, months or years
after a war situation," he says, adding that ongoing monitoring
of soldiers' health must be backed by sufficient resources.
"If this surveillance system begins to pick up large numbers [of
returned soldiers experiencing mental distress], there must be services
in place," he says. "We have to have a dynamic system in place once
problems are detected. Services have to be there where [returned
soldiers] need them, and when they need them."
Adkins says the Department of Defense is now in the process of
determining the funding sources for the program. Those working with
veterans, meanwhile, say that checking in with soldiers after they
have had some time to re-acclimate to civilian life is a vital first
step.
"It's a great idea," says Jay White, a veterans' counselor and
outreach worker at the Hartford Vets Center in Wethersfield, Conn.
who also served in Iraq. "People who have been back for a while
are more willing to talk. People who are just coming back want to
see their families, so they don't want to hear about anything [related
to mental health concerns]. They haven't had a chance yet to deal
with the thoughts that can come later. They don't know yet what
it's like to be out of uniform or to not carry a weapon. They haven't
had a chance to feel vulnerable."
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