Mental Health Measures Removed From New Military Spending Bill

Mental Health Measures Removed From New Military Spending Bill
Forbes
Rebecca Ruiz
December 20, 2013

When the House of Representatives recently passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, it contained measures to address serious concerns about the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in the military.

Most importantly, it included an amendment for the creation of a commission to evaluate claims that soldiers with combat-related psychological distress and traumatic brain injuries are being kicked out of the military due to minor infractions. I wrote about that a few months in a post that looked at the Colorado Springs Gazette’s investigative series on this topic.

The commission would have evaluated those charges and determined what, if any, policy changes need to be made in order to account for the role of combat-related mental or physical illness in a soldier’s misconduct.

But when the Senate passed its version of the bill on Thursday night, that amendment had been scrubbed. Two other mental health amendments had been stripped as well:

Mental health assessments
The law would have provided regular mental health screenings for all active-duty service members. Currently, the focus is on giving these assessments to service members who deploy, and even then, the requirement can be waived if an individual isn’t exposed to “operational risk factors.”

Mental health support for personnel and families
This provision is vague, but it would have permitted the Secretary of Defense to create initiatives that “respond to the escalating suicide rates and combat stress related arrest rates” of service members; train soldiers to recognize and respond to combat stress disorder, suicide risk, substance addiction, risk-taking behaviors, and family violence; and determine the effectiveness of the military’s efforts to reduce suicide rates.
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