Before proposing a course I believe it is vital for one to first understand the concept military psychology. The practice of psychology or psychiatry in the military has been around for decades. The military needs psychologist to help choose the best men and women possible to serve and protect. Also, the psychologists must ensure the enlisted are in the best mental and emotional shape possible. It is considered to be a “unique situation” in which not only are these individuals practicing psychologist or psychiatrist they are also most times active duty military personnel. This unavoidable circumstance causes the situation to be significantly different from private practice and other outside settings. For example, clients become comrades …show more content…
Both?
From my research I have come to understand the definition of psychology as a special branch that applies psychological principles in a military setting focusing solely on military personnel and their families. The purpose of military psychology as defined by the American Psychological Association (APA) is, “research or practice in a military environment applying military applications and principles in areas of clinical and health psychology, training and human factors, manpower and personnel, social and organizational systems, and testing and measurement.” In order to become a military psychologist you must be twenty one and forty two years of age, a U.S citizen, and have all the education requirements as a civilian psychologist, meaning high school and bachelors. You will also be required to have a master 's degree, doctoral degree, and a license for practice. As a military psychologist you have a wide range of job duties. This includes diagnosing and treating service members, determining if officers are capable of fulfilling duties, investigate mental and behavioral disorders, and conducting medical research on disease of military importance. Your salary will be determined by your rank and years of military service.
The history of psychology being involved with the military dates back as far as the late 1800s starting with the testing stages. The term “mental test” was developed in 1890 by an understudy of Wilhelm Wundt in Germany named James
Anything that can impact military readiness can be reported to a member’s commanding officer. A sad result this as caused many a service member to become very distrustful of both mental health and family support personnel. Many civilian counselors have resorted to promising service members that requests for treatment will not be reported to their supervisors. Fortunately while the stigma still exists some progress has been made about shifting attitudes up and down the ranks towards getting the necessary help. (Hall, 2008) This attitude often stems from the fact that if a member, especially one in command of other service members, makes a bad judgment call due to having a mental health issue it could very well lead to a significant loss of both life and government property. Many view or used to view seeking the help of a mental health expert as showing the inability of making sound calls in the field. (Schreiber & McEnay,
Psychological support for troops has emerged as a necessity because this kind of work can deal, to a considerable extent, with a set of specific psychological problems arising within disciplinary systems at all levels, not the lower echelons alone, as is often believed. Occasionally it is just the matter of an enlistee being unprepared for discipline-abiding lifestyle (ignorance of army regulations, orders and regulatory documents). Sometimes, however, psychological problems stem from clearly expressed anti-disciplinary attitudes in some or other serviceman, which attitudes tend to disorganize military activities, mixing, and off-duty routine.
Mental problems are burdensome for the soldiers, since these burdens cannot be extinguished. When soldiers are at war they are surrounded by responsibility, death and destruction. Adding to all this
With further growth in Psychiatric care and the American Psychiatric Association(APA) in the 1950’s and some later in the 1960’s, APA crated the DSM I/II (Diagnostic and Statistical Mental Disorders). With huge amounts of Vietnam Veterans interviews and further research in the 1980’s the psychological symptoms of PTSD were caused and created by the traumatic events of war time. There are still gray areas as to how to prevent this in war time and how to treat such a problem once one has it, but there is still ongoing research to this day. They are now up to the DSM 5 and are constantly researching these psychological problems. Such things like processing, classes, and psychological evaluations happen before release back to civilian life has been made for returning veterans in efforts to lessen the number of effected Veterans.
The suicide prevention program is driven and maintained by military leaders (i.e. officers and non-commissioned officers) and military social workers who actively support/contribute to the entire program and the initiatives within the community. Military leaders ensure that every service member receives annual suicide prevention training through PME conducted by military leaders. Additionally, the military has issued “guidelines” (which are military policies) for how commanders can reduce the stigma of mental health services by creating a positive culture climate. Commanders use the Commanders Consultation Assessment Tool, to gain insight into unit strengths and areas of vulnerability, as well as, creating a positive climate culture. This tool also teaches service members to recognize the signs and symptoms of distress in themselves and others and to take protective action and encourage others to do the same. The goal he is to foster a culture of early help-seeking, without judgment.
Military mental health providers hold dual roles as clinicians and commissioned officers. While they are bound by the ethical code and professional guidelines of their profession, they are also held to the standard of Department of Defense (DoD) statutes and regulations. They are expected to provide competent clinical care but also enforce military boundaries and discipline (McCauley, Hacker Hughes, & Liebling-Kalifani, 2008). Likewise, there may be duality in the provider’s obligation, both to the patient/service member and to their higher command. These conflicting relationships and obligations are referred to as mixed agency (Kennedy & Johnson, 2009; Kennedy & Moore, 2008). Ultimately, the provider’s responsibility to the unit’s mission may not always align with the best interests of the patient (McCauley et al., 2008).
Do Military Veterans Feel that Civilian Psychologists are Competent in Military Culture and How does this Affect the Therapeutic Alliance?
According to a study constructed by JAMA Psychiatry, a medical journal published by the American Medical Association, explained that one out of five soldiers, who have enlisted into the military have suffered from a mental disorder (Hastings). With this statistic, there are doubts regarding the military’s assessments of the enlisted. Matthew Nock, a Harvard University psychologist, led a study on mental disorders in the military, and concluded that
The fast paced, often demanding world of life in the military, and the experiences of combat and death, create situations in which many veterans experience psychological stress. These stressful situations are typically complicated further by the self-medication of substance use, and other psychological disorders that may be present. There is a large number of military personnel that are facing stressful issues such as homelessness, suicide, and substance abuse, which could lead to them getting involved with the criminal justice system. There is approximately 18.5% of service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan that suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, and about 19.5% of military personnel report experiencing a traumatic brain injury during their deployment in the middle east (Veterans and Military Families, 2014).
Many combat veterans return with mental health needs that can complicate educational achievement. In addition to specific disorders such as traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, combat veterans experience psychosocial disruption as they rapidly transition from the role from warrior to that of student. (Sachs, 2008, p.1)
I personally have been in the Human Services field for a while now, and have worked in all areas of behavioral health. Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with all ages. I enjoy working with families, and believe that it is important to help the whole family if that opportunity is available. I enjoy working under a Hybrid Family Integrated Transitions Model (FIT). When I was working with youth ages 12-17 1/2 being emancipated from the juvenile justice system, we learned to focus on the family as well as the individual youth. I have embraced that same concept in my new direction of working with families. I would like to move on to a specialization of concentration. Working with the military in helping preserve the entire family,
As the small group grew larger, I achieved great satisfaction in the effects that it had on the participating soldiers. This confirmed my thoughts that I had found my true calling. The second event that affected my decision was when I returned from my second combat deployment in Bagram, Afghanistan. Upon returning there were hundreds of soldiers who requested to seek mental health treatment for a variety of reasons, including loss of a loved one, night terrors, and suicidal thoughts. Although every soldier that requested mental health treatment was able to meet with a mental health professional, such as a licensed clinical mental health counselor (LCMHC), a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), and a licensed professional counselor (LPC), there were still dozens of soldiers that weren’t diagnosed for months because of the lack of clinical psychologists who was required for specific testing. Understanding that there was a need for something that I was passionate about ultimately made me decide to pursue a doctorate because I plan to conduct research during the program and after licensure. A Ph.D. is a research degree that requires conceptual and theoretical knowledge; it is not enough to regurgitate
A service member’s emotional and psychological issues are not like malfunctions of a piece of equipment and must not be treated as a troubleshooting problem in a technical manual. And yet this seems to be the only way the military, as a whole, knows how to address the issue of a service members mental health. It requires a holistic approach that is not currently embraced by the military. Historically, the military has been ill-equipped to handle the shifting nature of the psychological issues created by introducing a service member to the battlefield.
Abnormal and clinical psychology are two branches in the field of psychological studies. In simple words, abnormal psychology can be defined as the study of people who engage in unusual behavior and emotional thoughts. These actions and thoughts are considered abnormal compared to those of other members of society, and they significantly interfere with their functioning in life. Clinical psychology goes hand in hand with abnormal psychology because it is the study that deals with the assessment and treatment of those abnormal actions. Learning about these branches of psychology can help us understand and predict behaviors of people who that are affected by these disorders. It is also essential to advance our knowledge to help assess the people who suffer these illnesses to lead a life of better quality. In this paper, a case study that entails a brief vignette of a 35 year old paralegal named Greg will be analyzed. According to concepts of abnormal and clinical psychology, Greg will be diagnosed with the psychological disorder of obsessive-compulsive disorder (more formally known as OCD) that might have originated in the anal stage of the psychoanalytic theory, for which cognitive behavioral therapy will be used as a possible treatment.
In order to become a psychologist, there are certain classes that you have to enroll in. The required classes that you have to take into having the psychology major are statistics, experimental methods/research