Increase efforts to detect and treat post-deployment mental disorders, since effects may be long-lasting¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 1 study (1 quant-synthesis), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The review's authors recommend strengthening detection and treatment of mental disorders among deployed personnel after return, because screening-positive odds for PTSD and depression remain elevated in the longer term. They write that "efforts should be increased to detect and treat mental disorders, as effects may be long‐lasting", and note the next step is examining preventive measures and policies for organizing deployment to minimize mental health effects. Detection is complicated because mental illness may be hard to detect in a military setting where a career is linked with strength.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Detection and treatment capacity for PTSD, depression, substance use and common mental disorders among returning personnel, since the review found consistently high long-term screening-positive odds for PTSD and depression

Constraints¶

• Mental disorders "may be hard to detect in the military setting because a military career is intimately linked with mental and physical strength"; the review also notes high risk of bias in the underlying observational studies and suggests personnel policy changes or unanticipated demand shocks as potential sources of quasi-experimental variation for future research

Target Learners¶

• Deployed military personnel and veterans returning from international military operations

Target Learning Goals¶

• Detection, diagnosis and treatment of post-deployment mental health problems including PTSD, depression and substance use

Claims¶

• In long-term assessments, personnel reporting high combat exposure have higher odds of screening positive for PTSD and depression than personnel reporting lower exposure [+W]
• More than 24 months after exposure, deployed personnel have higher odds of screening positive for PTSD, depression, substance use and common mental disorder than non-deployed personnel [+W]
• Long-term prevalence of post-deployment mental health problems is expected to exceed pre-deployed/non-deployed baseline ranges across all four outcome domains [+W]
• At other (variable) time points since exposure, deployed personnel show significantly higher odds of PTSD and depression than non-deployed personnel, while the common mental disorder analysis is inconclusive [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Bøg M, Filges T, & Jørgensen A.M.K. (2018). Deployment of personnel to military operations: impact on mental health and social functioning. Campbell Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.4073/csr.2018.6