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Change to clearances
aims to encourage troops to seek help
(July 2008
Issue)
By Ami Albernaz
The Pentagon recently amended a questionnaire for security clearances
so that applicants would not need to acknowledge all psychological
care they have received. Officials feared a question about mental
health treatment was deterring soldiers from seeking counseling.
With high numbers of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan
with combat-related anxiety, depression and readjustment difficulties,
the change is one of a number of measures that have been taken to
encourage troops to seek out mental health counseling. Surveys of
soldiers showed they feared acknowledging mental health treatment
would jeopardize their security clearances, which are needed for
many military positions.
Some who work with soldiers say changing the question is a step
in the right direction. Maryann Gnys, Ph.D., associate chief of
mental health and behavioral sciences services with the Providence
division of VA New England, says younger troops in particular are
sometimes reluctant to seek counseling, "since they fear it could
hurt their career."
Prior to mid-April, applicants were asked if they had seen a mental
health professional in the past seven years and to list treatment
details. Cases in which therapy was sought for marriage or grief
and was not related to violent behavior, did not have to be reported.
Now, troops also no longer have to acknowledge treatment for combat-related
difficulties.
The Department of Defense declined comment on the move, though
in a briefing available on the department's Web site, Col. Patricia
Horoho, R.N., M.S.N, M.S., commander of the Walter Reed Health Care
System, said "psychological health is no different from physical
health care," and that service members should be encouraged to
"maintain their psychological health."
Col. Jonathan Coffin, M.S., the outpatient director of the Howard
Center for Human Services in Burlington, Vt., says the Pentagon's
action sends a valuable message.
"In general, the best attempts are being made to take down barriers,
so that people can feel like they're good soldiers if they get mental
health care," he says.
Still, he adds, soldiers might continue to seek out counseling
centers they see as being the most discreet. Some in Vermont have
turned to the state's veterans'centers, which are smaller than
VA medical centers and may be seen as less intimidating.
In Rhode Island, Gnys notes, psychologists and social workers are
available in some of the same facilities as primary care doctors.
"We try to make [counseling] services available wherever vets might
drop in," she says, adding that she sees this sort of holistic care
as the future of health services for soldiers.
Counselors also meet with soldiers in Rhode Island upon their return
from deployment, Gnys says, which might also help soldiers to feel
that counseling is routine.
"Meeting everyone helps people not feel singled out," Gnys says.
Other measures have been proposed to integrate physical and psychological
care and remove any stigma associated with counseling. In late April,
U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced the National Guard
and Reserve Mental Health Access Act, which would establish a national
network of mental health providers for soldiers (see "Bill
would expand services for National Guard, reservists").
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