Military Mental Health

Mental health professional providing services to military personnel present unique ethical challenges when working with this culture. According to Vogt (2011), although a significant number of military personnel require treatment for a mental illness, the culture is one of the greater contributors preventing individuals from seeking treatment. The constant state of war experienced within Operation Iraq Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom caused a significant increase in mental health issues amongst United States military (Cifu et al., 2013). The result of the wars not only physically injuries service members, but also damages the mental state. A frequent diagnosis of two or more psychological disorders are no longer the exception, but
(2011), sought to identify the impact of mental health treatment when providing services to military personnel. Although the study conducted by Hyman et al. (2012), identified that DoD leadership has recognized and responded to the need for increasing mental health assistance amongst personnel; the present study has confirmed that the stigma associated with seeking treatment remains inherent within military culture. Researchers administered questionnaires about the perceived stigma of individuals who seek mental health assistance in the military. Army personnel who sought treatment within the last 12 months utilized in order to provide an accurate view of the current state of the military. Soldiers were surveyed about their trust in psychologists, the affects on their career and their peer’s viewpoints of seeking mental health assistance. Results of the study indicate that those who sought mental health assistance believe that a stigma remains in the military. Furthermore, those who received counseling for a mental disorder were viewed worse than those who received assistance for a substance abuse
(2014), addressed the issue of the military viewpoint of mental health treatment from a quantitative point of view in order to conduct trend analysis of the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment. Specifically, researches sought to identify the collective opinion of mental health services from 2002 until 2011. One of the initial limitations of this course of research is the population utilized for the research, United States Army personnel. A large portion of the data obtained for the experiment was obtained by conducting surveys of personnel stationed at Army installations. Participants were queried on previous experiences with mental health counselors and the types of professionals utilized such as a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Also, researchers also sought to identify if the personnel were diagnosed with a mental illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder or major depressive disorder as a result caused by trauma experienced during combat. Furthermore, the study sought to identify if the individual who provided assistance was either military or civilian personnel. The purpose of the assessment was to assess the state of the Army’s mental health program; therefore, only those who treatment were from military personnel was included within the