Staff Voices - Looking at Deployment in a New Light
By Dr. Ken Furman
10/10/12
Do you notice anything unusual about this statement?
“Despite the stresses of deployments, many soldiers find their deployment experiences rewarding.”
During a recent talk I attended by retired Air Force psychologist Carroll Greene, these types of statements, which are often found in a pre-deployment briefing, predispose both Service Members and healthcare providers to automatically think about deployments negatively. What if the statement was turned to “Because of the stresses of deployments, many soldiers find their deployment experiences rewarding”?
Many standard pre-deployment briefs by well-meaning mental health providers consist of a series of talks by experts – the Doc, who informs Service Members that they will be overly stressed, will experience a multitude of negative symptoms as a normal part of the deployment experience, will have negative impacts on their relationships, and “Don’t worry, we have resources to fix you when you break”. What expectation does this set?
Mental health providers are well trained to identify and treat pathological conditions – sick people. While these professionals in most instances do this quite well, one potential danger is that it lures us into a trap of viewing Service Members through a distorted lens. We feel confident that we can always help individuals to become better in some manner. We are perplexed and often critical of those individuals who apparently fail to recognize this or otherwise resist our services. We may tend to forget that there are individuals who are independent and many of these are drawn to military service. They are not passive. They have an internal locus of control. They prefer to meet challenges and figure out solutions to problems on their own. Dare I say it? That some Service Members don’t avoid us due to a fear of stigma, but that they simply don’t desire our assistance. In fact, they don’t seek anyone’s assistance. During times of duress they may not want help from anyone – mom, dad, sister, brother, clergyperson, or mental health professional.
Like many of my colleagues, I have found that most Service Members view their overall deployment experiences in a positive manner. They cite many reasons including the following:
- the ability to utilize one’s training in its purest form,
- the sense of purpose,
- the idea of being part of something larger than oneself,
- the acceptance of responsibility and duty to one’s country,
- distilling one’s needs to a simple level,
- the camaraderie,
- the challenge,
- the “trial by fire” with likeminded individuals who meet and overcome obstacles.
Is it possible that deployment stress has primarily positive effects?
This idea seems to be at odds with both the general public perspective and some military mental health providers, perhaps due to our current culture in which comfortable has become affiliated with “good” and uncomfortable with “bad”. The idea of “no pain, no gain” seems to have fallen out of favor despite our knowledge that adversity, challenge, failure, perseverance and pushing ones limits emotionally and physically often lead to growth and resiliency throughout our personal and professional lives.
I had a recent discussion with a new military psychologist who was beginning to gain confidence in their ability to perform effectively in a deployed environment who used the phrase, “When I have to deploy”… I would respectively disagree with them and encourage them to think, “When I have the honor and privilege to deploy I will use this opportunity to grow as a military officer, provider and person”. The way that we are prepared for deployment and encouraged to think about the positive aspects of testing ourselves in challenging (stressful) situations can have a significant impact during all phases of the deployment cycle.
By Dr. Ken Furman
10/10/12
Do you notice anything unusual about this statement?
“Despite the stresses of deployments, many soldiers find their deployment experiences rewarding.”
During a recent talk I attended by retired Air Force psychologist Carroll Greene, these types of statements, which are often found in a pre-deployment briefing, predispose both Service Members and healthcare providers to automatically think about deployments negatively. What if the statement was turned to “Because of the stresses of deployments, many soldiers find their deployment experiences rewarding”?
Many standard pre-deployment briefs by well-meaning mental health providers consist of a series of talks by experts – the Doc, who informs Service Members that they will be overly stressed, will experience a multitude of negative symptoms as a normal part of the deployment experience, will have negative impacts on their relationships, and “Don’t worry, we have resources to fix you when you break”. What expectation does this set?
Mental health providers are well trained to identify and treat pathological conditions – sick people. While these professionals in most instances do this quite well, one potential danger is that it lures us into a trap of viewing Service Members through a distorted lens. We feel confident that we can always help individuals to become better in some manner. We are perplexed and often critical of those individuals who apparently fail to recognize this or otherwise resist our services. We may tend to forget that there are individuals who are independent and many of these are drawn to military service. They are not passive. They have an internal locus of control. They prefer to meet challenges and figure out solutions to problems on their own. Dare I say it? That some Service Members don’t avoid us due to a fear of stigma, but that they simply don’t desire our assistance. In fact, they don’t seek anyone’s assistance. During times of duress they may not want help from anyone – mom, dad, sister, brother, clergyperson, or mental health professional.
Like many of my colleagues, I have found that most Service Members view their overall deployment experiences in a positive manner. They cite many reasons including the following:
- the ability to utilize one’s training in its purest form,
- the sense of purpose,
- the idea of being part of something larger than oneself,
- the acceptance of responsibility and duty to one’s country,
- distilling one’s needs to a simple level,
- the camaraderie,
- the challenge,
- the “trial by fire” with likeminded individuals who meet and overcome obstacles.
Is it possible that deployment stress has primarily positive effects?
This idea seems to be at odds with both the general public perspective and some military mental health providers, perhaps due to our current culture in which comfortable has become affiliated with “good” and uncomfortable with “bad”. The idea of “no pain, no gain” seems to have fallen out of favor despite our knowledge that adversity, challenge, failure, perseverance and pushing ones limits emotionally and physically often lead to growth and resiliency throughout our personal and professional lives.
I had a recent discussion with a new military psychologist who was beginning to gain confidence in their ability to perform effectively in a deployed environment who used the phrase, “When I have to deploy”… I would respectively disagree with them and encourage them to think, “When I have the honor and privilege to deploy I will use this opportunity to grow as a military officer, provider and person”. The way that we are prepared for deployment and encouraged to think about the positive aspects of testing ourselves in challenging (stressful) situations can have a significant impact during all phases of the deployment cycle.