Military’s Mental-Health Efforts Are Ineffective, Report Finds

The Wall Street Journal, by Shirley S. Wang Study Fails to Find Evidence That Programs for Soldiers and Families Prevent Psychological Disorders An independent report on mental-health programs for military members and their families paints a bleak picture of the efforts being made to stave off depression, suicide, post-traumatic stress disorder and domestic violence among service personnel. The Institute of Medicine report, which was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Defense and issued Thursday, reviewed data on prevention programs for active-duty military currently in use and found that few exhibited strong evidence they work. In addition, there was little coordination within and between service branches regarding these efforts. “There’s a surprising lack of empirical evidence for the creation of and evidence for the maintenance of” prevention programs, said M. David Rudd, provost of the University of Memphis and one of 13 committee members who helped write the report. He called the findings disappointing. Read Article Here