Stigma and Military Culture

The Department of Defense (DoD) has invested heavily in developing resilience programs to enhance the resilience and psychological fitness of service members and their family members. However, psychological health outcomes such as suicide, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse remain problematic. In 2010, only 22% of service members who died by suicide and nearly half of service members who attempted suicide had received outpatient behavioral health services. Encouraging service members to seek help before mental health problems progress is one way the Services enhance resilience.  However, stigma remains a barrier to help-seeking behaviors among service members.

The DoD has developed and implemented several large scale initiatives to address stigma and increase help-seeking behaviors that would ultimately impact a cultural shift to one that encourages help-seeking behaviors. Some of these initiatives include a Department-wide public awareness campaign, DoD Suicide Task Force Recommendations and the DoD/Veteran Affairs Integrated Mental Health Strategic actions.  Additional key initiatives include identifying those policies and programs that decrease stigma and increase help-seeking behaviors. The Real Warriors Campaign will be discussed as a primary example of a DoD campaign recognized by the Suicide Prevention Task Force report and central to the efforts to create a “help seeking” environment. 

DoD efforts have had some success with decreasing stigma and increasing help seeking behaviors, but there are still concerns.  Further evaluation of contributing factors and specific efforts to change stigma and help seeking behaviors are needed. This presentation will include descriptions of these initiatives including supporting literature reviews and working group findings and descriptions of the influence of military culture on help seeking behaviors and stigma.