Tuesday, August 25, 2009 WASHINGTON: Commanders have introduced the $117m initiative to help troops handle their stress before it becomes debilitating and leads to mental illness. From October 1 all active-duty, reserve and National Guard soldiers will be required to take a “resiliency” test to assess their emotional, spiritual and physical state.“How often do you feel that you lack friendship?” and “How often do you feel left out?” are among the 170 questions. Answers will remain confidential, but soldiers will be asked to choose a resiliency training programme based on their individual results. The army wants to train 1,500 sergeants by next summer to teach weekly 90-minute anger management classes designed to reduce stress and help troops avoid depression and suicidal thoughts. Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, who is overseeing the programme, said: "This was developed because we recognised that we did really did not have a good preventive and strengthening model for psychological health. “It’s just a recognition that we spend an enormous amount of energy and resources on someone after they’ve had some negative outcome, but we’re not doing anything deliberately as a preventive measure.” The programme was started after a rise in the number of soldiers taking their own lives two years running, which brought the US army suicide rate to the highest level since records began in 1980. Figures released earlier this year suggested that there were 128 confirmed suicides by serving US army personnel in 2008, compared with 115 the previous year, while the number of suspected suicides in the first half of 2009 reached 88, compared with 67 for the same period in 2008. There are slightly over a million soldiers in the US army. Alcohol abuse is another growing problem, with the number of US soldiers who are alcoholic or binge-drinkers nearly doubling in the past six years. Figures suggest that 11 soldiers per 1,000 suffered from alcohol abuse problems in the first half of 2009. The new scheme is similar to one already in operation for British troops. The Trauma Risk Management system (TRim) is a peer-level management strategy for soldiers dealing with the aftermath of traumatic events. It was developed within the Royal Marines and has since been introduced to the Army, as well as being used by non-military organisations like the Foreign Office and the London Ambulance Service. Under the system, TRim practitioners of every rank are embedded within all units so that every soldier has a member of his own peer group to approach for help and advice. Practitioners are trained to identify colleagues who are in need of psychological help and ensure that their needs are met by drawing up a support strategy. They are given a list of indicators of psychological distress to look out, including heavy drinking, a loss of control, a tendency to blame others, feelings of guilt or shame and difficulties performing day-to-day tasks. But critics say not enough is being done to help combat soldiers coping with traumatic events. Robert Marsh of Combat Stress, the UK mental health charity for veterans, called on the Government to invest more money in helping troops and veterans deal with the psychological toll of combat. “[Soldiers] in Afghanistan are undergoing the stress of being a legitimate target every single day and knowing they could be killed or injured at any moment, as well as having to shoot people or watch people being shot,” he said. “Some of those soldiers, like those who served in Iraq, Northern Ireland and the Falklands, will suffer psychological injuries that will come out in later life. “The Government needs to step up to the mark and meet the challenge that organisations like Combat Stress are facing in helping veterans who come to us with serious problems.” Mr Marsh said the number of veterans seeking help from the charity has increased 66 per cent in the past four years. They suffer from a variety of psychological problems including nightmares, flashbacks, paranoia and irrational anger, and often try to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs before seeking professional help. A study published earlier this year by researchers at Manchester University, called Suicide after leaving the UK armed forces, suggested that British veterans were up to three times more likely to commit suicide than the rest of the population. Disintegrating family relationships and substance abuse problems caused by combat-related trauma also leads to significant numbers of ex-servicemen and women becoming homeless after they leave the Armed Forces. Research last year by the Ex-Service Action Group (ESAG) found that six per cent of homeless people were veterans, with 1,100 homeless people sleeping rough or living in hostels in London. The number is thought to be much higher in other parts of the country where there is a strong tradition of recruitment into the Armed Forces. The ESAG research disclosed that a disproportionate number of veterans living on the streets had alcohol, physical and mental health problems. Of those interviewed, 25 per cent said they had encountered difficulties during their time in the Armed Forces, such as mental health problems or alcohol abuse, which had continued after discharge.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 WASHINGTON: Commanders have introduced the $117m initiative to help troops handle their stress before it becomes debilitating and leads to mental illness. From October 1 all active-duty, reserve and National Guard soldiers will be required to take a “resiliency” test to assess their emotional, spiritual and physical state.“How often do you feel that you lack friendship?” and “How often do you feel left out?” are among the 170 questions. Answers will remain confidential, but soldiers will be asked to choose a resiliency training programme based on their individual results. The army wants to train 1,500 sergeants by next summer to teach weekly 90-minute anger management classes designed to reduce stress and help troops avoid depression and suicidal thoughts. Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, who is overseeing the programme, said: "This was developed because we recognised that we did really did not have a good preventive and strengthening model for psychological health. “It’s just a recognition that we spend an enormous amount of energy and resources on someone after they’ve had some negative outcome, but we’re not doing anything deliberately as a preventive measure.” The programme was started after a rise in the number of soldiers taking their own lives two years running, which brought the US army suicide rate to the highest level since records began in 1980. Figures released earlier this year suggested that there were 128 confirmed suicides by serving US army personnel in 2008, compared with 115 the previous year, while the number of suspected suicides in the first half of 2009 reached 88, compared with 67 for the same period in 2008. There are slightly over a million soldiers in the US army. Alcohol abuse is another growing problem, with the number of US soldiers who are alcoholic or binge-drinkers nearly doubling in the past six years. Figures suggest that 11 soldiers per 1,000 suffered from alcohol abuse problems in the first half of 2009. The new scheme is similar to one already in operation for British troops. The Trauma Risk Management system (TRim) is a peer-level management strategy for soldiers dealing with the aftermath of traumatic events. It was developed within the Royal Marines and has since been introduced to the Army, as well as being used by non-military organisations like the Foreign Office and the London Ambulance Service. Under the system, TRim practitioners of every rank are embedded within all units so that every soldier has a member of his own peer group to approach for help and advice. Practitioners are trained to identify colleagues who are in need of psychological help and ensure that their needs are met by drawing up a support strategy. They are given a list of indicators of psychological distress to look out, including heavy drinking, a loss of control, a tendency to blame others, feelings of guilt or shame and difficulties performing day-to-day tasks. But critics say not enough is being done to help combat soldiers coping with traumatic events. Robert Marsh of Combat Stress, the UK mental health charity for veterans, called on the Government to invest more money in helping troops and veterans deal with the psychological toll of combat. “[Soldiers] in Afghanistan are undergoing the stress of being a legitimate target every single day and knowing they could be killed or injured at any moment, as well as having to shoot people or watch people being shot,” he said. “Some of those soldiers, like those who served in Iraq, Northern Ireland and the Falklands, will suffer psychological injuries that will come out in later life. “The Government needs to step up to the mark and meet the challenge that organisations like Combat Stress are facing in helping veterans who come to us with serious problems.” Mr Marsh said the number of veterans seeking help from the charity has increased 66 per cent in the past four years. They suffer from a variety of psychological problems including nightmares, flashbacks, paranoia and irrational anger, and often try to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs before seeking professional help. A study published earlier this year by researchers at Manchester University, called Suicide after leaving the UK armed forces, suggested that British veterans were up to three times more likely to commit suicide than the rest of the population. Disintegrating family relationships and substance abuse problems caused by combat-related trauma also leads to significant numbers of ex-servicemen and women becoming homeless after they leave the Armed Forces. Research last year by the Ex-Service Action Group (ESAG) found that six per cent of homeless people were veterans, with 1,100 homeless people sleeping rough or living in hostels in London. The number is thought to be much higher in other parts of the country where there is a strong tradition of recruitment into the Armed Forces. The ESAG research disclosed that a disproportionate number of veterans living on the streets had alcohol, physical and mental health problems. Of those interviewed, 25 per cent said they had encountered difficulties during their time in the Armed Forces, such as mental health problems or alcohol abuse, which had continued after discharge.
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