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Forensic Psychiatric Evaluation for Military Absenteeism in Taiwan
Nian-Sheng Tzeng1, Chih-Kang Chen2, Tzong-Shi Wang2
1Dr. Tzeng is Attending Psychiatrist, Assistant Professor and the Director of Program for Forensic Psychiatry Training, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, and the Director of Student Counseling Center, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. Dr. Chen is Attending Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. Dr. Wang is Attending Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Tzu-Chi Hospital, Buddhist Medical Foundation, Taipei, Taiwan. Dr. Chang is Attending Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. Dr. Kao is the Director and Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, Song-Shan Branch Taipei, Taiwan. Ms Yeh is a lecturer, Department of Nursing, Kang-Ning College of Healthcare and Management, Kang-Ning University, Taipei, Taiwan, and a PhD student, Institute of Bioinformatics and System Biology, National Ciao-Tung University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan. Ms. Chiang is a Research Associate, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. Dr. Huang is Attending Psychiatrist and Professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the official policy of the Ministry of Defense, Taiwan. pierrens@mail.ndmctsgh.edu.tw.
Abstract:
The relationship between military absenteeism and mental health problems has been noted; however, factors affecting military absenteeism by enlisted personnel have not been studied systematically. In a medical center in Taiwan, we performed a chart review of 26 forensic psychiatric evaluations of enlisted personnel who were absent without leave (AWOL) or deserted their service from 1994 to 2014. The findings showed that many of these recruits had a lower level of education (50.00% had just nine years of education), intellectual disability (46.15%), depressive disorders (30.76%), and suicidal ideation (53.85%). Depressive disorder was overrepresented in comparison with findings in a previous study. Further study is needed to confirm whether psychiatric screening before service enlistment and early psychiatric intervention for service members with mental illness or emotional disturbance could help in the prevention of desertion or going AWOL.
