Posted on Feb 12, 2020
What fuels a fear of stigma associated with seeking mental health support? What tools have you seen successfully overcome that fear?
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A warrior in need will often avoid seeking help due to a fear of being stigmatized. The resulting isolation can be as harmful or worse. There is also a mountain of research showing that those who experience social stigma and discrimination see their challenges deepened, making it even more difficult to recover. Why then, when so many warning signs and risk factors are easily detected, have we constructed a culture in which critical needs are often known but not addressed?
Have you seen examples of people overcoming this fear of stigma and finding true relief and recovery in community?
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/05/ce-corner-isolation
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/servicesandsupport/stigma-discrimination-and-mental-illness
Have you seen examples of people overcoming this fear of stigma and finding true relief and recovery in community?
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/05/ce-corner-isolation
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/servicesandsupport/stigma-discrimination-and-mental-illness
Stigma
Mental Health
Wellness
Community
Depression
Edited 6 y ago
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 8
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In the 1970s, while station in Berlin, a fellow NCO sought counseling to deal with stress stemming from his ongoing divorce proceedings. He lost his clearance and was shipped out of theater. With history like this, is it any wonder people are reluctant to seek help?
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Col Casey "Radio" G.
Charles, you're right. With examples like this, every witness takes away a clear message. One thing we do a very poor job of articulating is that nobody knows how deep the needs are until a mental health provider gets involved. There are cases where, once diagnosed, it's clear the person needs a change of environment, for his or her own good. But how are the rest of us to perceive that?
I had a MSgt work for me once. She was absolutely amazing at her job, and responsible for a great deal of my own success. Circumstances in her personal life piled up, and she sought help. Part of her diagnosis included that our work environment was terrible for her, and was exacerbating some challenges. In the end, she agreed, and we worked together to get her reassigned to another staff across town. Ultimately, she recovered, and thrived there, and it felt like a total success.
BUT, considering your example, what did the rest of my staff around us see? Did I articulate well enough that we were working together to support a fellow warrior in need? Or did I just show a staff that I fired and reassigned someone for seeking help? Freakin' great question.
Thanks for the note, and for a chance to think on a past experience. I'll be reaching out to some former coworkers to learn more about how they saw that play out as a 3rd-party witness.
Clear messaging is everything in organizational leadership...
I had a MSgt work for me once. She was absolutely amazing at her job, and responsible for a great deal of my own success. Circumstances in her personal life piled up, and she sought help. Part of her diagnosis included that our work environment was terrible for her, and was exacerbating some challenges. In the end, she agreed, and we worked together to get her reassigned to another staff across town. Ultimately, she recovered, and thrived there, and it felt like a total success.
BUT, considering your example, what did the rest of my staff around us see? Did I articulate well enough that we were working together to support a fellow warrior in need? Or did I just show a staff that I fired and reassigned someone for seeking help? Freakin' great question.
Thanks for the note, and for a chance to think on a past experience. I'll be reaching out to some former coworkers to learn more about how they saw that play out as a 3rd-party witness.
Clear messaging is everything in organizational leadership...
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Col Casey "Radio" G. I've seen veterans avoid help because of the new Red Flag laws...if your state has it anyone can say your a threat and the police confiscate all your weapons and you have to go to court to get them back. It's at least a 9 month waiting period.. you are guilty until you can prove your not. It's their way around the second admendment...I'm not telling you not to seek help if you need it just be informed!
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In 2014 (I.e. not that long ago), I had to get a separate mental health evaluation/approval to deploy. Reason? I had gone to mental health to get meds for depression. Meds weren't a deployment issue, the fact that I had been to mental health was. Keep in mind I never expressed any suicidal thoughts or ideations, nor any homicidal ones. I was still treated as a liability and a hazard that had to get special approval to be allowed to do my job.
About a year later, I was fired from a staff position (back stateside - 6 month deployment) because I was taking time to see mental health for same depression. I was having severe motivation issue (but still getting the job done better than my peers). Again, no suicidal/homicidal anything, just malaise. Fired from an Army job for seeking help (NCOER stated that I frequently took Army time to handle personal issues and rated me unsat).
What fuels a fear of stigma? ACTUAL stigmatization!
About a year later, I was fired from a staff position (back stateside - 6 month deployment) because I was taking time to see mental health for same depression. I was having severe motivation issue (but still getting the job done better than my peers). Again, no suicidal/homicidal anything, just malaise. Fired from an Army job for seeking help (NCOER stated that I frequently took Army time to handle personal issues and rated me unsat).
What fuels a fear of stigma? ACTUAL stigmatization!
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Col Casey "Radio" G.
Casey, I'm so sorry to hear this. It shouldn't be this way, and I really wish I had something useful to offer you. I can't help wondering how many times a failure of leadership like you're describing put someone in need on a path that eventually led to a death by suicide. These are missed opportunities we can't afford.
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SFC Casey O'Mally
Col Casey "Radio" G. Part of the problem is systemic, sir. If a Soldier breaks a leg, they are obviously non-deployable. We get them fixed, rehab them, and send them back to the fight. If a Soldier goes to mental health (behavioral health/ whatever cool term they are using these days) and gets treatment, even after the doc says they are OK, they are still non-deployable for 90 days just to "make sure they are stable." Imagine getting off a physical profile, being medically cleared, and still waiting 90 days to make sure you don't re-injure yourself.
We simply don't treat it the same.
Additionally, society in general, to include the military, continues to conflate mental health with mental acuity. If someone is depressed, or anxious, or stressed, then they somehow become completely unable to make sound, rational decisions or to engage in complex thought (such as mission planning). Which means they are now unable to lead (at least in the eyes of many). Just because I am feeling down doesn't mean I can't take care of Soldiers or plan and execute a mission. Just because I don't WANT to get out of bed and face the world doesn't mean I CAN'T get out of bed and not only face the world but stare it down.
Most people I worked with had NO CLUE I was dealing with depression. I went in to work, got the job done (and done well), and did it with a smile on my face. I actually had one peer tell me I COULDN'T be depressed because I was always so cheerful. Yet people continue to believe struggling with less than healthy thoughts or emotions somehow makes you incapable, or at least less capable.
We simply don't treat it the same.
Additionally, society in general, to include the military, continues to conflate mental health with mental acuity. If someone is depressed, or anxious, or stressed, then they somehow become completely unable to make sound, rational decisions or to engage in complex thought (such as mission planning). Which means they are now unable to lead (at least in the eyes of many). Just because I am feeling down doesn't mean I can't take care of Soldiers or plan and execute a mission. Just because I don't WANT to get out of bed and face the world doesn't mean I CAN'T get out of bed and not only face the world but stare it down.
Most people I worked with had NO CLUE I was dealing with depression. I went in to work, got the job done (and done well), and did it with a smile on my face. I actually had one peer tell me I COULDN'T be depressed because I was always so cheerful. Yet people continue to believe struggling with less than healthy thoughts or emotions somehow makes you incapable, or at least less capable.
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Col Casey "Radio" G.
Well-articulated, Casey. Thanks for your insight. I don't disagree with a word you've written here. I can relate to your bout with depression. I dealt with the same, depression and anxiety, from childhood through the halfway point of my Squadron (Battalion) Command tour. I was 17 years into my career. Fortunately, my CoC was understanding and supportive. They continued trusting me to lead a deployed combat unit while regularly visiting the psychologist and establishing an anti-anxiety medication regimen (which still helps take the edge off even today). Not everyone gets that, I know, but I can tell you I turned and offered the very same understanding and direct personal support to more than a handful of Airmen in my unit, none of whom I had to remove from his or her primary deployed duties.
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