Timing of postcombat mental health assessments.

Abstract

509 Army Soldiers (who had returned within the previous week from a 12-month deployment to Iraq) participated in a study to examine changes in psychological symptoms between homecoming and 120 days later. Rates of psychological symptoms were significantly higher at 120 days postdeployment than at immediate reintegration largely due to an increase in Soldiers who were initially nonsymptomatic but became symptomatic later.

Prospective assessment of neuropsychological functioning and mood in US Army National Guard personnel deployed as peacekeepers

“…Regarding the finding of reduced depression symptomatology at Time 2, there was little actual change in the mean level of depression symptomatology reported over time among the deployers, but by comparison, depression symptom levels increased from Time 1 to Time 2 among nondeployers (see table 2). Other prospective deployment studies have documented a homecoming effect, characterized by improved mood and other psychological symptoms when assessed most proximal to re-deployment (60). Although over 90% of the deployed group was assessed within 7-8 days of their return from Bosnia, no widespread evidence of a significant homecoming effect on mood and performance patterns was observed in this study.…”

Effects of Psychological Capital on Mental Health and Substance Abuse

“…It is possible that in addition to improving work-related outcomes (e.g., job performance, Luthans et al, 2010), such interventions could also help reduce the rates of mental health and substance abuse problems among employees. Such problems are a serious concern for both civilian (Danna & Griffin, 1999;Goetzel et al, 2004;Kessler et al, 1999) and military organizations (Bliese et al, 2007;Hoge et al, 2004) and can be somewhat alleviated by developing employee PsyCap.…”

“…To ensure that the predictor, mediator, and outcome variables were measured at three separate time points, only cases with PsyCap data measured at Time 1 (at the predeployment stage), health assessment data measured at Time 2 (immediately after deployment), and diagnosis data obtained within 120 days on return from deployment (cf. Bliese et al, 2007) were used in the current study.…”

Exploring Patterns in Referrals to Combat Stress for Uk Veterans with Mental Health Difficulties between 1994 and 2014

“…This raises the question, does this imply there has been an increase in prevalence rates of mental health difficulties within the population? Studies of US service personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have suggested a trend to increased rates of PTSD as time since deployment has increased Hoge et al, 2004;Bliese et al, 2007;Cabrera et al, 2007;Vasterling, Proctor, & Friedman, 2010). However, a different pattern has emerged in the UK.…”