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- Title
Treatment of Mental or Physical Health Problems in a Combat Zone: Comparisons of Postdeployment Mental Health and Early Separation From Service.
- Authors
Conway, Terry L.; Schmied, Emily A.; Larson, Gerald E.; Galarneau, Michael R.; Hammer, Paul S.; Quinn, Kimberly H.; Schmitz, Kimberly J.; Webb‐Murphy, Jennifer A.; Boucher, Wayne C.; Edwards, Nathan K.; Ly, Hoa L.
- Abstract
The primary aim of this study was to evaluate whether being treated for mental health or nonbattle physical injury during military combat deployment was associated with higher risk for postdeployment mental disorders and poorer career outcomes than seen in the general combat-deployed population. Service members treated in theater for mental health (n = 964) or noncombat injury (n = 853) were compared with randomly sampled personnel (n = 7,220) from the general deployed population on diagnosed mental disorders and early separation from service. Deployment, medical, and career information were obtained from Department of Defense archival databases. Over half of the personnel who received mental health treatment while deployed were diagnosed with 1 or more mental disorders postdeployment and/or were separated from service before completing their full-term enlistment. This was significantly higher than expected compared to the general deployed group, adjusting for demographic/military characteristics and mental health history (adjusted odds ratios [ORs] ranging 1.62 to 2.96). Frequencies of problems also were higher in the mental health-treated group than in the group treated for nonbattle physical injuries (significant adjusted ORs ranging 1.65 to 2.58). The documented higher risks for postdeployment adjustment problems suggested that especially those treated in theater by mental health providers might benefit from postdeployment risk-reduction programs.
- Subjects
UNITED States; MENTAL illness treatment; MENTAL health of military personnel; DEPLOYMENT (Military strategy); MEDICAL databases; MILITARY medicine; TREATMENT of post-traumatic stress disorder; PSYCHIATRIC epidemiology; COMPARATIVE studies; DATABASES; RESEARCH methodology; MEDICAL cooperation; MENTAL health; POST-traumatic stress disorder; PSYCHOTHERAPY; RESEARCH; MILITARY personnel; EVALUATION research
- Publication
Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2016, Vol 29, Issue 2, p149
- ISSN
0894-9867
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1002/jts.22091