Posted by Col. Charles Engel
, Director
on October 20, 2010
![Army Col. Charles Engel](Content/Blog/Col Engel_Director_DHCC.jpg) |
Army Col. Charles Engel, Director, Deployment Health Clinical Center
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Army Col. Charles Engel, director of the Deployment Health Clinical Center, a DCoE component center, recently wrote a post on the Huffington Post blog, discussing psychological health care and the Army’s RESPECT-Mil Program. Find an excerpt of the piece below:
In the mental health care world, we have long known that mental health specialists alone are inadequate to meet our nation's diverse mental health needs. Indeed, it has now been more than 30 years since psychiatrist Darrel Regier estimated that 60 percent of mental health care is delivered by primary care providers, famously describing primary care as America's "de facto mental health service system."
We have learned that access and staffing, while important, are only two factors among many that contribute to the de facto system. For example, many with depression and anxiety experience painful physical symptoms and they may not realize the mental health nature of their difficulties. Others may avoid mental health care for fear that they will be viewed as weak or crazy. A recent Army study found that about half of soldiers returning from Iraq with depression or anxiety problems believed that seeking mental health services would harm their career. Furthermore, many soldiers reported lack of confidence in mental health treatment or lack of trust in mental health specialists.