{"id":76989,"date":"2023-11-09T21:46:39","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T21:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/11\/09\/mental-health-evacuations-for-deployed-us-troops-are-on-the-rise\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:03:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:03:30","slug":"mental-health-evacuations-for-deployed-us-troops-are-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2023\/11\/09\/mental-health-evacuations-for-deployed-us-troops-are-on-the-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental health evacuations for deployed US troops are on the rise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2023\/10\/06\/21000-casualties-in-seven-days-the-push-to-update-medic-training\/\" target=\"_blank\">rate of hospitalizations for active-duty troops<\/a> is decreasing overall in the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2018\/02\/15\/no-golden-hour-for-marines-headed-into-the-next-big-fight\/\" target=\"_blank\"> wake of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,<\/a> mental health related hospitalizations \u2015 and even evacuations from deployed locations \u2015 are on the upswing amid a growing national mental health epidemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s according to new survey data from the U.S. military\u2019s Medical Surveillance Monthly Report. Issues published in the summer charted military health provider encounters and hospitalizations from 2018\u20132022, and also tracked five-year trends in<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2022\/01\/25\/future-vertical-lift-will-redefine-the-golden-hour\/\" target=\"_blank\"> troop medical evacuations for noncombat conditions. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of the trends are dramatic: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2021\/06\/12\/centcom-commander-vows-to-keep-the-pressure-on-adversaries-even-after-leaving-afghanistan-exclusive-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\">In U.S. Central Command<\/a>, the region encompassing the Middle East, medical evacuations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2023\/03\/16\/senators-push-dod-to-approve-recruits-whove-sought-mental-health-care\/\" target=\"_blank\">attributed to mental health disorders<\/a> have risen markedly every year since 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2022, 38.8% of evacuations from Central Command were mental health-related, compared to 33.5% in 2021 and 27.2% in 2020. In 2022, 268 troops were evacuated for mental disorders from Central Command, out of 691 total evacuations for the region. Mental health related events were the largest evacuation category in Central Command for 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2023\/03\/16\/senators-push-dod-to-approve-recruits-whove-sought-mental-health-care\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/enlist.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Senators push DoD to approve recruits who\u2019ve sought mental health care<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Past treatment or diagnosis is still a bar to service for most.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In U.S. Africa Command, where the rate of overall medical evacuations increased steeply in 2022 due to changing global force posture, mental health was the second most common cause of medical evacuations at 14.8%, behind \u201cnon-battle injury and poisoning\u201d at 30.1%. Thirty four service members were evacuated for mental disorders from Africa Command in 2022, out of 229 total evacuations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By comparison, the mental health medical evacuation rate from Iraq was 11.6%, about one-third of the current rate, for the nine years between 2003 and 2011, according to Medical Surveillance Monthly Report data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All troops were evacuated to the U.S. or Europe, where they saw a medical provider for further treatment, according to report criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In-theater medical encounters attributed to mental health disorders also are on the rise overall. Those increased from 4.4% to 6.2% during the five-year surveillance period, with \u201cadjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood\u201d topping the list of mental health conditions requiring an encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stateside, data shows that rate and numbers of active-duty and reserve component hospitalizations decreased from 2018 to 2022 \u201cfor all major diagnostic categories except mental health disorders.\u201d Those saw a slight increase, from 5.7% to 5.9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mental health disorders topped the list of reasons for hospitalization for every year in the survey data, but the number of hospitalizations in 2022, at 19,079, was 1,000-plus more than the number in 2018, which was 18,012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the same period, hospitalizations for injury and poisoning dropped by nearly 1,600. And those for musculoskeletal issues dropped by by nearly 1,700. Total hospitalizations for all conditions dropped nearly 14%, from 66,128 hospitalizations to 57,009 hospitalizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While ambulatory visits \u2015 those not requiring a hospitalization \u2015 for mental health disorders were only the third most-common category for service members, behind \u201cother\u201d and musculoskeletal system issues, the visit rate for mental health issues were dramatically on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mental health-related ambulatory encounters rose 20% from 2018\u20132022, from 1.9 million to 2.3 million. Here too, adjustment disorders topped the categories for these visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The increase in military mental health issues requiring treatment or intervention has not occurred in a vacuum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An estimated<a href=\"https:\/\/mhanational.org\/issues\/state-mental-health-america\"> one in five American adults<\/a> now live with a mental illness, and the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news\/item\/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide\"> global increase<\/a> of about 25% in the prevalence of behavioral health conditions including anxiety and depression, according to the World Health Organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the military, a rise in medical provider encounters for mental health disorders is not necessarily a bad thing, said Dr. Kimberly Hepner, a senior behavioral scientist at Rand. It speaks, she said, to efforts in the military and in the civilian world to destigmatize the process of seeking treatment and establish an understanding that \u201cmental health care is health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The stressors and shared experience of COVID-19, she said, contributed to that mindset shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other hand, a rise in mental health-related evacuations for deployed troops represents a clear concern, Hepner said. She pointed to a widely acknowledged<a href=\"https:\/\/www.military.com\/daily-news\/2022\/10\/12\/soldiers-need-friends-and-family-help-amid-mental-health-provider-shortage-army-leaders-say.html\"> shortage of in-house military mental health providers<\/a> that parallels a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rand.org\/blog\/2022\/05\/addressing-the-shortage-of-behavioral-health-clinicians.html\">national shortage of behavioral health clinicians<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because of this shortage, she said, more troops are receiving behavioral health care from the private sector, through civilian providers contracted by the military\u2019s Tricare health system. Though this is a better solution than allowing mental health needs to go unmet, she said these contracted providers are less likely to understand the readiness requirements for deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf I were sitting at a military training facility, assessing readiness at every session would be my bread and butter,\u201d she said. \u201cBut a provider in the community may not understand those issues as well; they may be newer to seeing service members and not as well versed in the need to assess readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a result, she said, service members who are not psychologically healthy enough to handle deployment stressors may be getting cleared for deployment more often. And this is a serious concern, she said, as it\u2019s disruptive to the military\u2019s ability to carry out forward missions effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the recent Medical Surveillance Monthly reports, the most common diagnoses associated with medical evacuations from Central Command and Africa Command in 2022 were \u201creaction to severe stress and adjustment disorders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDepressive episode,\u201d \u201cmajor depressive disorder, recurrent\u201d and \u201cother anxiety disorders\u201d also were high on the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Hepner, the clear solution is to increase the number of behavioral health providers inside military treatment facilities \u2015 a process that she acknowledges could take time. She also said the military likely needs to understand more about the underpinnings and precursors of these mental health-related medical evacuations, and examine the existing efforts to screen and assess troops prior to deployments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSomething potentially could be missed at that stage, even though the readiness assessment right now is quite extensive,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so there are questions about, how could that process be improved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As all the military services face historic challenges in meeting recruitment goals, some have sought ways to accommodate prospective enlistees with histories of mental health issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army in 2018 changed policy to allow potential recruits with a past incident of self-harm before the age of 14. Some lawmakers now want a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2023\/03\/16\/senators-push-dod-to-approve-recruits-whove-sought-mental-health-care\/\">full removal of exclusions for prospective recruits<\/a> who\u2019ve sought mental health care in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hepner said it\u2019s important to remember that a mental health care encounter or hospitalization doesn\u2019t preclude a return to full health and duty capability, and in fact that that\u2019s the common outcome of behavioral health treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think we want to continue to highlight that this is care that all service members should have access to, and that getting access to high quality behavioral health care, will help service members return to full duty and complete their mission,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we want to support them to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Editor\u2019s note: This story was updated Nov. 13 to correct the spelling of Dr. Kimberly Hepner\u2019s name. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2022, 38.8% of evacuations from Central Command were mental health-related, compared to 33.5% in 2021 and 27.2% in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,13,16,26,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3359],"class_list":["post-76989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-disaster","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"D6GVUM6VJFBWJLUFN2VCPTGT2E","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2023\/11\/09\/mental-health-evacuations-for-deployed-us-troops-are-on-the-rise\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mental health evacuations for deployed US troops are on the rise - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 2022, 38.8% of evacuations from Central Command were mental health-related, compared to 33.5% in 2021 and 27.2% in 2020.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2023\/11\/09\/mental-health-evacuations-for-deployed-us-troops-are-on-the-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mental health evacuations for deployed US troops are on the rise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 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