By Spc. Crista M. Birmingham
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Military mental health has overcome many stinging stigmas since the famous slap Lt. Gen. George Patton administered to a shell shocked World War II soldier.
"Patton's slapping the Soldier in World War II typified the general reaction of that day," said Col. Robert G. Evans, clinical social worker, 785th Medical Company. "People suffering from shell shock or battle fatigue then were considered weak, fragile, or deficient, when it was just as devastating as illnesses that plagued the battlefield such as typhoid fever or malaria."
The 785th Medical Company, a reserve component out of Illinois, deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom II with the mission of preventing and curing for the entire country. After a few months, the OIF II mental health assessment team also consisted of the 1908th Combat Stress Control in the south, based at Tallil Army Air Base, and the 1835th CSC in the north, based at Mosul, moving the 785th to the central Iraq/Baghdad area.
After almost a year of deployment, this group has accomplished the smallest number of suicides and PTSD in the history of U.S. sustained ground combat, as well as making history with their regular combat stress control work.
According to Maj. David Rabb, commander, 785th Medical Company and Restoration Center in Baghdad's International Zone, two-thirds to three-fourths of Soldiers and Marines from the Vietnam conflict were mental health casualties on some level, compared to now, which is one sixth.
"There were also relatively few suicides in OIF II, in comparison to the numbers from OIF I. In OIF I, there were 21 total suicides. So far, there have been six through this tour in total," said Rabb.Mental health professionals attribute the successes to the proactive actions of the team. "The way the mental health philosophy has changed in OIF II is we get ourselves out as much as possible. Our goal is to provide behavioral health resources to the Soldiers where it's needed," said Col. Christine Piper, mental health consultant and Surgeon, Multinational Corps Iraq.
CSC has teams who actively go out at the request of commands and teams. "The prevention teams make rounds among certain Forward Operating Bases on a regular basis," said Piper. "That way, Soldiers in those units know that there will be someone there."Instead of taking Soldiers away, we dust them off and brush them up, where they're still able to function, said Staff Sgt. Wright, a Psychiatric Licensed Practical Nurse at a Veterans Hospital in the U.S. and mental health professional with the 785th.
Wright cites her experience with veterans as very helpful with new veterans. In addition to her regular duties, Wright goes on "jumps", visiting various outlying base camps. "Coming in, we figured we"d have a hard time, but from start to finish, actually now we have first sergeants walking people down to us," she said. In addition to regular visits, CSC offers Critical Event Debriefings, counseling, follow-up treatment, and assistance on many additional levels.A CED is brought to Soldiers after a significant traumatic event.
"It's normal to have an acute stress reaction," Rabb said. "The CED alleviates the grieving process, as well as gives Soldiers a means by which to vent. It's also intended to offer them some normalization, to understand that the way they are feeling is OK and that's actually how you should be feeling.
After an intense event like that, people often feel there is something wrong with them, when most people don't experience something like that in a lifetime." "The idea is to allow soldiers to vent, to give them good solid feedback and to maintain their mission readiness," said Capt. Allen Johnson, 785th occupational therapist.
"The long term prevention goal is to prevent post traumatic stress disorder," According to Johnson, one of the primary causes of PTSD is not allowing oneself to express emotion.
"In military terminology, "Suck it up and Drive on," but if you do that, you set yourself up for future issues," he said.
"We address it from the start. Let everyone know that anything you say is confidential, and encourage everyone to speak. They realize it's for their own personal benefit and speaking about what they're thinking or feeling will have nothing to do with their career, it's separate, and confidential."Mental Health professionals battle, in addition to everything else, the stigma many have towards their profession. "In this deployment, because of the nature of things and services we provide, the stigma of mental health services is slowly subsiding," said Johnson.
"One of the things to get past the stigma is by expressing to the unit that it's like a PMCS [Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services] for Soldiers. We do it for everything else; we should do it for Soldiers."In addition to the regular areas of operation for CSC, there are restoration teams. "It's where we send Soldiers we see as having a greater need for evaluation, where they have 72 hours away from their unit," said Rabb. A team of mental health professionals there evaluate and determine the status of individuals.
"The Army has made a concerted effort to change mental health and its obvious impact to every combat soldier," said Col. Paul Hill, 785th Medical Company. "Combat stress isn't a weakness; it's a normal human reaction to bad stuff. By informing and working with people, we are preventing 30 to 40 years of possible PTSD."In the same way tactical outerwear protects the physical makeup of the war fighter, these mental health professionals successfully strive to protect the internal makeup of the Soldier.
More information about nearby mental health facilities can be found online at http://www.help4soldiers.com.
| Date Taken: | 01.05.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 01.05.2005 09:26 |
| Story ID: | 780 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 138 |
| Downloads: | 26 |
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