Pre-deployment Year Mental Health Diagnoses and Treatment in Deployed Army Women

Nikki R Wooten1, Rachel Sayko Adams2, Beth A Mohr2

  • 1College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA. nwooten@sc.edu.

We estimated the prevalence of select mental health diagnoses (MHDX) and mental health treatment (MHT), and identified characteristics associated with MHT during the pre-deployment year (365 days before deployment) in active duty Army women (N = 14,633) who returned from Iraq or Afghanistan deployments in FY2010. Pre-deployment year prevalence estimates were: 26.2 % for any select MHDX and 18.1 % for any MHT. Army women who had physical injuries since FY2002 or any behavioral health treatment between FY2002 and the pre-deployment year had increased odds of pre-deployment year MHT. During the pre-deployment year, a substantial percentage of Army women had MHDX and at least one MHT encounter or stay. Future research should determine if pre-deployment MHDX among Army women reflect vulnerability to future MHDX, or if pre-deployment MHT results in protection from chronic symptoms.

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