- A veteran is a person who served in the active military, naval, or air services, and was not released dishonorably (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 2019)
- Veterans screen positive for a mental health condition twice as often as non-veterans (Pietrzak, Johnson, Goldstein, Malley, & Southwick, 2009)
- 5 million veterans have received a mental health diagnosis (Hester, 2017)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Most common mental health diagnosis in veterans (Ramsey, et al., 2017)
- More common in older female veterans (aged 30+ years) (Maquen et al., 2010)
- Males are most often diagnosed between the ages of 18-29 (Maquen et al., 2010)
Gender Differences
- Female veterans are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and eating disorders (Maquen et al., 2010)
- Male veterans are more often diagnosed with PTSD, alcohol and other drug use disorder (Maquen et al., 2010)
- Gender differences impact the development of programs and veteran-centered health care (Maquen et al., 2010)
Suicide
- There are over 20 veteran deaths per day due to suicide (Hester, 2017)
- Female veterans commit suicide 2.5 times more often than civilian women (United States Department of Veteran Affairs (USDVA), 2017)
- Male veterans commit suicide 2 times more often than female veterans (USDVA, 2017)
- Suicide prevention resources and VA mental health services include inpatient/outpatient programs, specialty treatment, and support for sexual trauma (USDVA, 2017)
Stigma
- Veterans are twice as likely to report concerns with stigma and barriers to care (Pietrzak et al., 2009)
- A veteran's career is NOT affected by seeking mental health services and/or mental health diagnosis (NAMI, 2019)
- Veterans will not lose clearance by consulting with a provider (NAMI, 2019)
- The Department of Defense (DoD) follows HIPAA and the Privacy Act (NAMI, 2019)