Psychiatric components of a health maintenance facility (HMF) on Space Station

The operation of a permanently manned space station brings a special challenge to psychiatry due to the combined physiological, emotional, and social stresses which will affect its occupants. Psychiatric diagnostic and therapeutic techniques will be a part of the Space Station's general medical support, known as the Health Maintenance Facility (HMF). The psychiatric component of HMF will promote psychological health throughout the mission and permit treatment, if necessary, of those psychiatric disorders which could impact mission success. This paper will discuss these emotional disorders and propose methods of management in the microgravity environment.