The "total costs of caring for veterans of the post-9/11 wars" between 2001 and 2050, according to a recent report from the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University -- The Long-Term Costs of United States Care for Veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.
Our profession continues to bend and shape to meet the needs of clients amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, one concern taking up space in most mental health professionals’ minds is how the pandemic will impact suicide risk. The conventional wisdom is that the associated life stressors, relational challenges, and greater access to firearms due to a surge in sales all may lead to a perfect storm whereby more people will be at risk of dying by suicide.
In 1945-46 the American Psychological Association (APA) underwent a reorganization and merger with the American Association of Applied Psychology and 19 charter divisions representing various constituencies were established, Division 19 was Military Psychology. Dr. Maurice Sipos, current Division President noted that, “Next week at the APA 2021 Virtual Convention, The Society for Military Psychology will celebrate 75 years of steadfast support of the field of military psychology through research, advocacy, applied science and evidence-based interventions for service members, veterans and their families. I am proud of our continued commitment to this legacy.”
Can the stigma against seeking behavioral health treatment ever be fully banished? It's a difficult and important question. A person’s sense of self of identity depends on how they view themselves, or “who” they are instead of “what” they are physically. This distinction can make it relatively easy to seek medical treatment, but so much more threatening to ask for help from behavioral health providers. However, it takes so much more courage to analyze our internal self and admit that change may be needed.
A common target for stigma-reduction interventions is to increase social support within military units with the goal of fostering support for mental-health treatment for individual service members. Recent findings from a study of Army National Guard personnel suggest that these approaches may have some unexpected and unintended consequences for treatment-seeking in Service members with service-related mental health conditions.