The mental health of the UK Armed Forces in the 21st century: resilience in the face of adversity

Deirdre MacManus; N. Jones; S. Wessely; N. T. Fear; E. Jones; N. Greenberg

doi:10.1136/jramc-2013-000213

The mental health of the UK Armed Forces in the 21st century: resilience in the face of adversity

Deirdre MacManus^*, N. Jones, S. Wessely, N. T. Fear, E. Jones, N. Greenberg

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Literature review › peer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have attracted considerable political and media interest in the mental health of UK military personnel. As a result of the close operational collaboration between US and UK forces, there have inevitably been many comparisons drawn between the mental health status of the two forces. Considerable research activity suggests that the mental health of UK forces appear to have remained relatively resilient in spite of their considerable exposure to traumatic events; one stark exception to this is the high rates of alcohol misuse which seem to be related to deployment. This paper explores the recently published literature relating to UK military forces and attempts to draw conclusions about the reasons for the apparent resilience shown by the majority of the regular forces.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	125-130
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps
Volume	160
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/jramc-2013-000213
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2014

Keywords

PUBLIC HEALTH
OCCUPATIONAL & INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE
EPIDEMIOLOGY
POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER
TRAUMATIC BRAIN-INJURY
MILITARY PERSONNEL
IRAQ WAR
RISK-FACTORS
SELF-HARM
AFGHANISTAN
DEPLOYMENT
COHORT
PREVALENCE

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1136/jramc-2013-000213

Cite this

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abstract = "The recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have attracted considerable political and media interest in the mental health of UK military personnel. As a result of the close operational collaboration between US and UK forces, there have inevitably been many comparisons drawn between the mental health status of the two forces. Considerable research activity suggests that the mental health of UK forces appear to have remained relatively resilient in spite of their considerable exposure to traumatic events; one stark exception to this is the high rates of alcohol misuse which seem to be related to deployment. This paper explores the recently published literature relating to UK military forces and attempts to draw conclusions about the reasons for the apparent resilience shown by the majority of the regular forces.",

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AU - Wessely, S.

AU - Fear, N. T.

AU - Jones, E.

AU - Greenberg, N.

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KW - OCCUPATIONAL & INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE

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KW - MILITARY PERSONNEL

KW - IRAQ WAR

KW - RISK-FACTORS

KW - SELF-HARM

KW - AFGHANISTAN

KW - DEPLOYMENT

KW - COHORT

KW - PREVALENCE

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The mental health of the UK Armed Forces in the 21st century: resilience in the face of adversity

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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