The Importance Of Ongoing Healthy Civilian Life Transition

Medical and mental health professionals may be the first line of defense in identifying Veterans

There is concern about military service members receiving stigma about getting or needing treatment in the area of mental health. Stigma occurs when individuals view others negatively because they have been labeled or identified as having a deviant behavior against societal norms; deviant behaviors such as mental illnesses or diagnoses uncommon or harmful to others. How does that impact the military? Military men and women alike are termed heroes, warriors, and survivors; this is quite the reputation to keep up. Military members go to war or deploy to hostile combat environments, which many come back with severe mental illnesses and diagnosis that need immediate care. At this point they may not feel like a hero. The terms psychological, mentally ill, PTSD, and behavioral health has gained a reputation as having or being a problem. Being labeled a problem is not what service members want. Many studies are trying to pinpoint the problem and resolve the stereotypes associated with getting treatment. Consequently, an individual’s attitude toward mental health treatment is thought to be affected by other people’s views on mental health care (Held & Owens, 2012).

Every day a man comes home from war. Most having left their families as boys or young men trained in tactics and combat but never being trained effectively on stress management or the dangers of PTSD. Going into war soldiers are instructed to choke it down and bury it deep. Once introduced back into civilian life, where emotions are acceptable and tactics are not the answer, how do these men survive? How do they learn to cope? And most importantly how does the U.S. government train them for the next portion of their lives? In October of 2001 Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF, began and since then over 1.8 million troops have served at least one term

Recent research has revealed that the majority of Veterans with a mental disorder under-utilize mental health services [3]. Among OEF/OIF Active Duty Veterans, only 23-40% of those with mental

“The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is home to the United States’ largest integrated health care system” (Mason e.t. al 2016). Because of technological and medical advancement, surviving injuries from war has lead to a greater need for post deployment and discharge care. I often hear the phrase “Freedom is not free”; the mental health of our active duty soldiers and veterans is one area that ends up costing America. Some lose time with their families, some are injured physically and mentally, and some lose their lives.

Hundreds of thousands of United States veterans are not able to leave the horrors of war on the battlefield (“Forever at War: Veterans Everyday Battles with PTSD” 1). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the reason why these courageous military service members cannot live a normal life when they are discharged. One out of every five military service members on combat tours—about 300,000 so far—return home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. According to the Rand Study, almost half of these cases go untreated because of the disgrace that the military and civil society attach to mental disorders (McGirk 1). The general population of the world has to admit that they have had a nightmare before. Imagine not being able to sleep one

Many veterans are unable to leave behind the trauma of Vietnam and psychologically return home. They struggle with a variety of extremely severe problems that neither they nor their families, friends, or communities knew how to understand

According to (Fischner, et al., 2016), military beliefs of self-reliance, stoicism, and manliness were reasons why veterans did not seek treatment. With the above-mentioned beliefs, the military norms played a role that prevented a least one individual from this study to seek mental health treatment. The gentlemen, who came from an infantry background, stated that mental health was a taboo subject and that seeking treatment was a sign of failure. Another veteran stated that he was embarrassed to seek mental health treatment and this veteran was afraid others would find that he was indeed seeking mental health treatment but if privacy was promised and maintained he was fine with seeking treatment (Fischner, et al., 2016). This is an indication that providers need to ensure that veterans understand HIPPA and confidentiality laws when they do seek treatment so that these fears are eased. Another belief that this study identified showed is that military beliefs emphasized the need to not show any weakness and to facilitate independence (Fischner, et al., 2016). According to (McCaslin, Leach, Herbst, & Armstrong, 2013), military beliefs have origins in service, respect, honor, and order as well as comradeship amongst military members. The loss of a veteran’s social network in a combination of having to locate housing, healthcare, and source of income can cause an insurmountable hardship for the returning veteran (McCaslin, Leach, Herbst, & Armstrong,

There are several barriers to rural veterans receiving quality of care. These include the rural and military stigma against mental health services, the insufficient timeliness of receiving care, the lack of skilled professionals in positions to serve veterans, and the tangible challenge of access to care. These barriers cause many veterans to not receive services at all. At best, it causes major hindrances for rural veterans resulting in sporadic treatment, low quality of care (Buzza, et al., 2011) and financial concerns (Gayle & Heady, 2011).

Veteran populations supported by the Veteran Health Administration has a problem when their patients need help that requires counseling. A report produced examining the different problems that exist was produced in April 2012. The Veterans Affairs (VA) was investigated by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) in a report entitled “Review of Veterans’ Access to Mental Health Care.” (Howley, 2014). It was determined that the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) does not have a method to track whether patients are provided timely access to mental health services (Office of Inspector General, 2013). VHA failures include neglecting to meet first-time patients with timely mental health evaluations and existing patients often waited more

Have you ever wondered what happens to war vets when they return home from the front lines? Some of the outcomes are not as happy as most people would like them to be. War veterans that survive come home with Mental Illnesses and other issues. Many war veterans end up homeless because of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and some are even living with the homeless men and women at shelters because they cannot receive the help they need from the government. In a study from a Research Brief in 2012, “Veteran and non-veteran participants were compared in a nationally-supported housing initiative for chronically homeless adults. Veterans were not found to be at increased risk for adverse outcomes once

The care for our veteran service men and women has been inadequate since the founding of our nation. The intent of this section is to provide an over view on the history of the military and the policies that have affected our veterans. Additionally, I will address the gaps in current mental and healthcare policies affecting veterans today.

Mental illness is an epidemic that plagues the United States. In 2014, it was estimated that one in five adults, or 43.8 million individuals, are diagnosed with a mental illness each year (NIMH, 2014). Among military veterans and the active duty population, the prevalence is even higher. According to one study conducted in 2014, nearly 25% of an active-duty, non-deployed Army population of 5,500 screened positive for a mental disorder of some kind, while 11% of those same individuals also tested positive for more than one mental illness (Willingham, 2014). There are several prominent non-profit organizations that selflessly dedicate their efforts toward diminishing these staggering statistics. The most notable of these associations could arguably be Give an Hour (GAH). GAH functions on the expertise and kindness of volunteer licensed mental health professionals who provide complimentary and confidential care to veterans, service members and their families. GAH offers an excellent opportunity for Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioners (APRN), specifically, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP), to offer assistance to a population who is clearly suffering from the pestilence of mental illness.

Many military service members do not want to be labeled as mentally ill, and result as a persistent stigma within the military. Serving in the military have certain pride there, in other words, soldiers should be able to do their duty without having those issues. Multiple deployments have resulted and led to significant emotional, behavioral, social and psychological problems to soldiers. A research study found that soldiers in the military with a deployed parent showed a 19 percent increase in behavioral disorders. Although treatment can take a long time, which may explain the high dropout rate, approximately about two thirds of soldiers with symptoms of PTSD and major depression did not seek help or care between 2002 and 2011. A research

This article is about training our community in improving their knowledge, attitude and helping behavior in regards to our military veterans who are suffering mental illness.