Mental Health Issues: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Part 1 

A significant number of military personnel and veterans suffer mental health issues due to the traumatizing incidents they encounter while on their missions. The extent of mental health issues vary from one person to another depending on their nature and the extent to which they were exposed to traumatizing incidents. There is the need to ensure that military personnel and veterans get help after coming from heavily demanding situations such as the mission of the United States military in Afghanistan ( Rothman et al., 2015) . 

Part 2 

High rates of mental health issues are also common among active-duty members. This brings us to the question: to what extent does involvement in challenging combat situations impact on the mental health of military personnel and veterans? There is high likelihood that exposure to extremely risky warring situations could have negative impacts on mental health. 

Part 3 

Psychological disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) are associated with exposure to extremely violent situations in combat zones among the military personnel. According to Zalaquett & Chatters (2016) , mental health issues experienced by the military personnel especially active-duty members and veterans is due to lack of assistance from relevant authorities. 

Part 4 

In most cases, military personnel are just given break to link up with their families after coming from war. This does not include help from mental health experts. In the long run they may end up suffering from mental health issues ( Larson et al., 2011; Castro, 2014) . It is therefore important to provide assistance to active duty members to help them recover from traumatic events they were exposed to in the battle zones. 

Part 5 

Some scholars argue that there is no standard method of assisting people deal with traumatic events since people react differently to different situations ( Grimell, 2019) . However, there is the other side of acting proactively rather than failing to act. 

Part 6 

It is evident that if military operatives are left unattended after exposure to traumatic situations, their psychological wellness is bound to deteriorate. Therefore, it is imperative that interventions are made mandatory for all veterans as a means to reduce the prevalence of PTSD. 

References 

Castro, C. A. (2014). The US framework for understanding, preventing, and caring for the mental health needs of service members who served in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq: a brief review of the issues and the research. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 5 (14), 33-41. doi:10.3402/ejpt.v5.24713 

Grimell, J. (2019). Revisiting Living in Limbo to Illustrate a Pastoral Psychological Understanding of Transition from Military to Civilian Life. Pastoral Psychology, 68 (4), 393–405. Doi: 10.1007/s11089-019-00881-6 

Larson GE1, H. P., Konoske, P., Webb-Murphy, J., Schmitz, K., Edwards, N., & Johnson, D. (2011). Predeployment and in-theater diagnoses of American military personnel serving in Iraq. Journal of Psychiatric Services, 61 (1), 15-21. doi:10.1176/ps.62.1.pss6201_0015 

Rothman, D., Brancu, M., Fairbank, J. A., & Kudler, H. S. (2015). Mental Health among Military Personnel and Veterans. North Carolina Medical Journal, 76 (5), 299-306. doi:10.18043/ncm.76.5.299 

Zalaquett, C. P., & Chatters, S. J. (2016). Veterans' Mental Health and Career Development: Key Issues for Practice. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 32 (1), 17-29.