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Legislation would
strengthen services
(June
2005 Issue)
By Ami Albernaz
To help counter the impact of combat on military personnel and
their families, Third District Connecticut Congress-woman Rosa DeLauro
(D) has introduced legislation that would require mental health
screenings of troops before and after deployment overseas and strengthen
psychological services for troops and their families.
"Providing for our servicemen and women both on the battlefield
and when they return home is a moral obligation of government,"
DeLauro said at a press conference announcing the legislation. With
a large number of returned soldiers showing signs of post traumatic
stress disorder or other psychological disturbances, she added,
troops must have access to the services and treatment they need.
DeLauro's bill, called the Military Mental Health Services Improvement
Act, would require mental health screenings of troops before their
deployment and no more than two months after they return home. Until
now, soldiers have been assessed a few days after the end of their
deployment, which many believe is inadequate for detecting problems
that may arise as the soldiers reacclimate to their home lives.
A Department of Defense program to begin this month will offer
mental health screenings within six months of a troop's return home.
These assessments will be written, which DeLauro calls "insufficient."
"We want screenings to be in person, not even over the phone,"
she tells New England Psychologist. "With a written assessment,
some people might not send them in."
DeLauro's bill also calls for better communication between the
Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs on
mental health-related cases and suggests the Department of Defense
work with local hospitals, community centers, colleges and universities
to strengthen psychological services for troops' dependents.
"We shouldn't reinvent the wheel," DeLauro says. "We should use
the services that are already in place."
Steven Marans, Ph.D., director of the National Center for Children
Exposed to Violence at the Yale Child Study Center, supports DeLauro's
legislation and says that screening troops before and after deployment
would allow for continuous monitoring for psychological issues that
might arise.
He says the proposal is distinct in its focus on families and its
goal of preparing soldiers and their families for difficulties they
could encounter.
The legislation "raises awareness of the challenges that troops
and their families face and the possibly poor consequences of not
recognizing those challenges," Marans says.
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