The Task Force on Mental Health was congressionally directed and organized in June 2006 to assess and recommend actions for improving the efficacy of mental health services provided to service members and their families. The results, forwarded to Congress on June 14, found that:
* Mental health care stigma remains passive and is a significant barrier to care,
* Mental health professionals are not sufficiently accessible to service members and their families,
* There are significant gaps in the continuum of care for psychological health,
* The military system does not have enough resources, funding or personnel to adequately support the psychological health of service members and their families in peace and during conflict.
Implementation of recommendations and remedies to support our service members has already begun, including:
* Military Services have established dozens of deployment health clinics around the country,
* Mental health providers have been embedded in line units in Iraq and Afghanistan to perform initial treatment for combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder,
* Service members are receiving additional mental health training to de-stigmatize when they need to reach out for help,
* The services are currently proactively exploring options to adequately resource their mental health care providers.
DoD's corrective action plan to provide the highest possible level of care and support to our military community addresses six broad categories of recommendations in the Mental Health Task Force's report:
* Leadership, culture and advocacy for psychological health,
* Access to care,
* Quality of care,
* Build psychological fitness and resilience and reduce stigma,
* Expand and enhance screening, surveillance, research and evaluation,
* Care transition and coordination.
The department is working to provide a comprehensive integrated system of excellence in prevention and care, to meet the needs of individual service members and their families throughout the military lifecycle. According to Dr. S. Ward Casscells, Assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, "In our recent report to Congress, we assert that psychological health and fitness are equal in importance to physical health and fitness. Further, we must keep in mind that human vitality is actually a function of psychological, physical and spiritual fitness-moderation, balance, thankfulness, integration and community are key determinants."
The plan addresses each of the 95 recommendations of the Mental Health Task Force. Implementation is in progress, with major changes occurring between now and May 2008. The goal of the plan, according to Dr. Casscells, is "...to provide a strong, resilient military force that prevails on behalf of a grateful Nation while at war and reunites with its Families to restore peace of mind upon returning to the home front."
DoD's action plan can be viewed on the health affairs web site at: http://www.ha.osd.mil/asd/downloads/MHTF-Report-to-Congress.pdf
Source: Military Medicine
