September 9, 2024

expert reaction to Phase 4 Report on the Health and Wellbeing Study of Serving and Ex-Serving UK Armed Forces Personnel

Scientists comment on a Phase 4 Report on the Health and Wellbeing of Serving and Ex-Serving UK Armed Forces Personnel.

Dr Elaine Johnston, a consultant clinical psychologist, chartered member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a member of the BPS’s Crisis, Disaster & Trauma Psychology Section, said:

“The latest KCMHR study finds that whilst the majority (around two-thirds) of serving and former armed service personnel do not experience high rates of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and PTSD, these rates have steadily increased over the past 20 years.

“The highest ‘probable PTSD’ rates were found amongst ex-serving (11%) and serving (7%) regulars, with higher rates amongst those deployed in combat roles.

“A new finding of this study is that more than 7 in 10 (72%) of those with ‘probable PTSD’ had complex PTSD (C-PTSD), a ‘PTSD+’ diagnosis given when people have experienced multiple or repeated traumatic events than can affect emotional regulation.

“Although evidence supports the use of effective trauma therapies such as CBT to treat multiple traumatic events (that are more commonly seen in clinical practice than one off or ‘single event trauma’s)*, more research is needed to tailor intervention and support to the specific needs of military populations.

“The study supports taking a more nuanced approach to understanding the mental health support needs of serving armed forces veterans, considering the impact both of combat exposure and other factors such as alcohol use, transition from leaving the armed forces, and experience of loneliness and caring responsibilities amongst veterans and their families.

“This is a high quality, longitudinal research study, examining the health and wellbeing sample of armed forces personnel (regulars and reservists) and veterans, serving during the era of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The original cohort recruited a random, representative sample of UK service personnel. Validated measures were used across study phases.

“A limitation of the report is that they have recruited from a specific era and therefore the findings may not be applicable to older era cohorts or those joining the armed forces more recently.”

*Murray H, Grey N, Warnock-Parkes E, et al. Ten misconceptions about trauma-focused CBT for PTSD. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist. 2022;15:e33. doi:10.1017/S1754470X22000307

‘Office for Veterans’ Affairs Final Report Health and Wellbeing Study of Serving and Ex-Serving UK Armed Forces Personnel: Phase 4’ by Marie-Louise Sharp et al. was published at 13:00 UK time on Monday 9^th September. 

Declared interests

Dr Elaine Johnston: No financial/research links to study. Formerly employed by Combat Stress (veteran mental health charity) 2016-19

This Roundup was accompanied by an SMC Briefing.