DOD MAKING ANOTHER BAD MOVE ON MENTAL HEALTH

DOD revising questions about mental health
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, February 15, 2008


WASHINGTON — Defense officials are revising questions about mental health counseling in their security clearance questionnaires in an effort to help fight the stigmas associated with traumatic stress disorders.

David Chu, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, said Wednesday that the goal is to strike a balance between getting the information investigators need and making servicemembers more comfortable with the process.

“It’s widely perceived that (seeking counseling) is a deterrent to receiving your clearance,” he said. “I think we’ll be able to change it to better assure people they can answer that question without imperiling their situation.”

He did not specify exactly what the changes will be, but they won’t involve completely omitting questions about past psychiatric counseling.

Currently the security questionnaire requires applicants to provide information on sessions regarding “mental health related conditions” including the name of the counselor and dates of care.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52506

Huge problem about to get worse. When Congress passed the bill that would stop veterans from having a gun permit if they had mental health issues, the veterans were up in arms. Many worried that they would lose their jobs if they came forward and were diagnosed. A lot of them had to turn to private psychologist to protect their jobs even before this passed.

Just because a veteran has PTSD that does not make them all depressed to the point they want to commit suicide, which was the intent of the bill. They do not all go out and commit crimes. They do not all end up homeless either. We cannot dismiss those who develop PTSD at such high levels they do fall into these categories, but we fail them when we lump them all in together.

When you read the symptoms of what PTSD, it is true they can experience all the symptoms but it is also true they can experience some of the symptoms. They do not always fit all sizes. If the DOD and the VA got their act together and consulted the psychologist who treat and know these veterans they would stop doing stupid things that will only add to the reasons veterans and active duty forces do not seek help. They may need to, they even may want to but with so many barriers up, they may find themselves refusing to seek help. The goal is to get them in for treatment as soon as possible and we should be doing everything to accomplish this, not putting up more walls to keep them away from the help they need.

People like me can get them past the stigma and get them to understand what PTSD is but what we cannot do is prevent the DOD and the VA from making very bad decisions.