Mental health considerations for military humanitarian aid personnel

Mental health services for veterans of humanitarian assistance (HA) missions is a critical and growing need within the United States military. The mental health impacts of such missions are both similar to and different from those experienced on combat missions, and may have an equally significant impact on the health and wellness of our troops. As the US military increasingly deploys humanitarian teams on both peacetime and contingency missions, this need can be expected to grow and must be addressed with more research and more attention to prevention, screening, and treatment. In this paper we will present a brief summary of the possible mental health effects of military HA missions, and propose remedies to address the adverse conditions that may arise in the pre-deployment, deployment, and redeployment settings.