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The Need for Psychiatrists in the Military

Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are in need of psychiatrists upon their return home from active duty. An additional 44 civilian psychiatrists were hired by the Department of Defense (DOD) to help staff medical centers, community hospitals, and clinics throughout the U.S.A. to address this need. This number will expand to 200 additional mental health professionals that the military is expecting to hire in the near future. Normally the army staffs 149 psychiatrists full-time as military employees to address the needs of soldiers in the U.S.A. or with the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The need for additional psychiatrist is due to difficulties with current psychiatry staff to meet the needs of the military and their family members in a timely basis. A recent mental health task report stated that active-duty soldiers are more likely to approach a psychiatrist in uniform than they are to approach a civilian one because they view the uniformed psychiatrist as part of their unit and they feel more comfortable confiding in them.

The need for the services of a psychiatrist is acute for our armed forces personnel due to the fact that 75% of them have reported experiencing life-threatening situations. These experiences can trigger depression, anxiety and acute stress. These are all symptoms that psychiatrists are handled to deal with. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is also a concern as well as traumatic brain injuries. PTSD can be experienced 90 days and even 120 days after returning from deployment.

To address some of the military's mental health issues Rep Susan Davis (D, Calif) introduced the Mental Health Care for our Wounded Warriors Act (HR 2612) on June 11. This bill will establish a minimum of 2 Centers of Excellence in Military Mental Health. These centers will "develop and implement long-term, comprehensive strategies to prevent, identify, and also treat combat-related mental health conditions", according to The Psychiatric Times article of August 1, 2007. The bill would however not put anymore psychiatrist within the military units nor would it expand on the number of military psychiatrists. These are the two most important parts of the recommendations that were made by the Mental Health Task Force Report.

It is imperative that we meet the mental health needs of our fighting men and women and their families. It is easy to understand why there is a need for quality mental health services and especially for an adequate supply of psychiatrists given the fact that soldiers encounter stress of the highest nature. Their families are subjected to the stress of separation and the anxiety associated with their loved ones being in harms way. Given all that our military personnel and their families do for our country it seems that the very least we can do for them is to care for their mental health needs in a way that would be most beneficial to them. According to the Mental health Task Force Report, that way, is to be able to assign military psychiatrist directly to each unit.