Military psychiatrists diagnose, treat, and manage mental health conditions in military personnel and their families. They undergo training to understand the military lifestyle and work to improve the lives of those affected by mental health conditions. They also review case histories, manage patient cases, serve as consultants, and educate patients and the military public.
A military psychiatrist is either a physician (MD) or a physician of osteopathic medicine (DO) with specialized training in psychiatry. The military psychiatrist’s role is to diagnose, treat, and manage mental health conditions that may manifest in military personnel and/or their family members. Working as a civilian or as a direct commissioned officer, the military psychiatrist is tasked with improving the lives of service members and families affected by these conditions. Effective treatment and management of conditions is often viewed by the military as enabling military personnel to positively contribute to their overall mission; therefore, the attending psychiatrist has some responsibility for ensuring that this happens.
An occupational hazard often associated with military service is working under highly stressful conditions. These conditions are a result of combat situations and the unique challenges associated with the military lifestyle. Before working with military personnel, a new military psychiatrist usually attends a training program where he or she will learn about the military lifestyle and how health care works in the military. Upon completion of this training, a military psychiatrist can better understand how the military environment can adversely affect mental health. Equipped with this understanding, he or she is now in a better position to liaise with military personnel and their families, while still being accountable for the overall objectives of the armed forces.
When the military psychiatrist reports the training, he will start handling cases and seeing patients. Work-in-progress tasks vary, but are generally broken down into a few main areas. Reviewing existing case histories as well as preparing new ones for patients is one such task. During this process, he or she will evaluate data derived from the cases and evaluate current treatment methods for effectiveness, while measuring the potential for further treatment.
Case management is another important role that the military psychiatrist will continually play. Patient case management will include psychiatric service delivery plans and may include managing mental health facilities. In addition, he or she will often serve as a professional consultant to other mental health or medical professionals, such as psychologists or social workers. Educating patients and the general military public about prevention strategies to mitigate mental health issues is often an important duty required by the role. Alignment of psychiatric services with other medical services generally falls to the psychiatrist as well due to their medical and mental health qualifications.
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