Psychologist Aims in the Military
Psychologists' aims depend on their specialty. Military psychologists may be either commissioned officers working as psychologists in the military or civilian psychologists providing mental health services for the military hospital system. Military psychologists may work in clinical psychology, providing mental health services to soldiers in the U.S. and overseas, or they may work in other fields such as research or PsyOps (Psychological Operations). Civilian psychologists working with the military are always in clinical jobs and may provide mental health services to soldiers or military dependents such as civilian spouses or children.
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Clinical Psychologist Aims
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Clinical psychologists serving on active duty or in reserve and National Guard units have the same aims as clinical psychologists in civilian careers: to provide unbiased mental health services to patients in an effort to improve patients' lives and functioning. Services include general counseling, behavioral therapy and emotional regulation or management, such as anger or stress management. Military psychologists work primarily with military personnel, even though military dependents may also receive care in military clinics. Large military bases have separate mental health clinics for military personnel and the civilian dependents. Many psychologists are members of the American Psychological Association, which dictates standards or care and ethical responsibilities for all psychologists. Military psychologists may adhere to the APA principles and guidelines when serving in a clinical role, but their loyalties are to the military first and the APA second; in other words, they may be required to adhere to military guidelines that conflict or contrast with the APA guidelines, such as patient confidentiality limitations due to the nature of military work and deployment safety.
Military Psychologists on Deployment
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Military psychologists often deploy with military units, including to Iraq or Afghanistan in recent years. Overseas, the military psychologist aims to monitor soldiers for mental health issues in an effort to keep all units safe. Mental health issues may be as basic as depression, anxiety or stress, or as complex as post-traumatic stress disorder. They may provide counseling services or evaluations, as in traditional clinical roles, as well as offer suggestions for reducing stress and encouraging communication of feelings, experiences and psychological needs. The primary aim, however, is maintaining proper mental health and reducing the risk of danger, including suicide.
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Preventative Aims
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Military psychologists, as well as others involved in planning and maintaining a healthy, stable military, take steps to prevent psychological issues from becoming problematic. On the small scale, prevention includes referral to psychologists if commanders suspect soldiers or officers are in need of counseling, such as in cases of alcohol or substance abuse, domestic disturbances, divorce, stress or depression as well as potential trauma from deployment experiences. On the large scale, prevention includes training that all military personnel receive before, during and after a deployment. Before a deployment, military personnel report to mandatory training that is designed to teach soldiers what to watch for and when to seek help, for themselves and their unit buddies with regard to psychological issues. Pre-deployment training also includes information on where to get help (psychologists, commanders, chaplains) and how to deal with long separations from family. During the deployments, especially long deployments, soldiers are given additional training to reinforce understanding of psychological issues and help keep everyone focused on their immediate tasks and surroundings. Before redeploying home and after returning to the U.S., soldiers are subjected to more training that discusses signs to watch for in themselves and others with regard to readjusting to regular civilian life --- or if active duty, readjusting to being Stateside. Additionally, this training talks about readjusting to being home with wives, husbands and family and the potential issues of readjustment for the family members that soldiers may overlook or misunderstand. The goals of the training are to improve psychological adjustment and mental health functioning, as well as reduce the risk of incidents, overseas and at home. Psychologists may also engage in research and planning elements for military work and lifestyle in an effort to reduce stress and increase productivity and efficiency of military personnel.
Civilian Psychologists
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Civilian psychologists may work with military personnel in mental health facilities on U.S. bases, but they may also work with dependents, such as soldiers' wives or husbands and children. Unlike military psychologists, civilian psychologists do not deploy with soldiers and they do not hold the military as their primary responsibility since they are contracted instead of commissioned. Civilian psychologists work in clinical settings, providing mental health services to patients in the form of assessments, counseling and other treatment options. Civilian psychologists working with the military are often overloaded with patients since they do not deploy, like their military counterparts, and therefore tend to pick up the patients of the military psychologists on deployment.
Psychological Operations
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Military psychologists sometimes work with military intelligence to help determine the most effective ways to manipulate situations, such as through the use of psychological operations. For example, using deception with enemies or foreign nationals or effective propaganda use. Psychology may be applied to information gathering, such as through human intelligence (espionage, counterintelligence and so forth) and through coercion or interrogations. The American Psychological Association strictly prohibits psychologists partaking in torture situations, however, and this can create problems for some psychologists, whether APA members or not.
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