Washington, Dec 14 (Inditop.com) The incidents of soldiers gunning down their superiors in a fit of rage in the US and India have placed much needed focus on mental healthcare in the military, a new research said.
The research showed that there was significant understaffing of mental health services and service providers in the military and excessive prescribing of opiates.
Stephen M. Stahl, professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, says that findings from interviews and surveys at Fort Hood, where such a shootout took place, shows a low level of confidence in army mental health care.
He proposed a key and immediate remedy to these problems — to redeploy primary care providers and nurse case managers already in place at Fort Hood into roles that make them central members of the mental health care delivery team.
According to Stahl, this change – which would require extensive mental health and psychopharmacology training for primary care, nursing and mental health professionals – is necessary in order to elevate the standard of mental health care.
He adds that such steps could help prevent future dire consequences for soldiers as well as to the health professionals who deliver such services, says a UCSD release.
These findings were published in the December issue of CNS Spectrum.
