Report of the 2016 Mental Health Expert Panel on suicide prevention in the Canadian Armed Forces

Lay Summary The challenges associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have the potential to not only adversely affect mental health in general, but also to emphasize and widen disparities in mental health across demographic groups. In particular, research suggests that women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic psychologically, socially, and economically. However, the state of mental health in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) during the pandemic and the impacts of gender on mental health outcomes are currently unknown. This study uses data collected early in the pandemic to examine the state of mental health of CAF Regular Force members and the impacts of gender and family status. Although most members were doing well, a notable minority were experiencing mental health issues at potentially clinically significant levels, with women more likely to experience depression and anxiety than men and women with children less likely to experience functional impairment as a result of their symptoms. The findings provide a snapshot of the mental health of Regular Force members during the pandemic and suggest the importance of considering gender and family situation in understanding mental health.

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Retrospective cohort study of outpatient mental health visits in children and youth in Canadian military families

Journal of Military Veteran and Family Health ◽

10.3138/jmvfh-2021-0071 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alyson L. Mahar ◽

Heidi Cramm ◽

Isabel Garces ◽

Alice B. Aiken ◽

Simon Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

General Population ◽

Military Families ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Well Being ◽

Children And Youth ◽

Health Services Use ◽

Physician Visits ◽

Outpatient Mental Health ◽

Canadian Armed Forces

LAY SUMMARY This study tried to answer the question “Do children and youth in military families have a greater risk of emotional and behavioural problems than children and youth in the general population?” The authors used routinely collected health data from children and youth in Canadian Armed Forces families who relocated to Ontario, matched to data from children and youth in non-military families. They compared outpatient mental health services use, such as physician visits, and the reasons for those visits, such as depression. They found that children and youth in military families were more likely to visit a physician for specific mental health diagnoses than children and youth in the general population. More programming and resources supporting the mental health and well-being of children and youth in military families may be needed.

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Psychiatry

Oxford Assess and Progress: Emergency Medicine ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199599530.003.0023 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Pawan Gupta

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Patient ◽

Self Mutilation ◽

Cry For Help ◽

Mental Health Patients ◽

Health Expert ◽

Self Harm ◽

Mental Health Expert ◽

The Uk ◽

Suicidal Patients

It is estimated that 1 in 4 people in a year will have some kind of mental health problem, and that mixed anxiety and depression is the most common disorder in the UK. There is an increasing number of mental health patients attending the ED, and a new FY doctor in the ED will encounter such patients from their first shift onwards. The approach to a mental health patient is only marginally different from the approach to those presenting under other specialties. The assessment largely depends on careful history taking and attentively listening to the patient’s narrative. There are only a few situations in psychiatry in which a physical examination and investigations are required in the ED to make a diagnosis. As it would not be possible to cover all the areas of psychiatry which come through the doors of the ED in one chapter, only a few questions have been included here to provide a flavour of the common psychiatric situations that FY1/2s may come across in their early training period. The UK has the highest rate of self-harm in Europe and so one of the most important points is to recognize suicidal patients who can harm themselves seriously and manage them appropriately. If such patients are discharged following an inadequate assessment, they may go on to commit suicide and the attending doctors would have missed the opportunity to support and save them. In this category of patients, when they present to the ED, no matter how minimal is the level of their self-mutilation, it is a serious ‘cry’ for help. Our job is to listen to the patient and support them with the maximum help we can provide. As it may be difficult to occasionally get to the bottom of the problem, particularly within the time constraints in the ED, a low level of suspicion should be kept to ask for the assistance of the mental health expert. Self-harm and depression go almost hand in hand. The suicidal rate is higher in depressed patients than in the general population.

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Incidence of major depression diagnoses in the Canadian Armed Forces: longitudinal analysis of clinical and health administrative data

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology ◽

10.1007/s00127-019-01754-2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 55 (5) ◽

pp. 581-588

Author(s):

François L. Thériault ◽

R. A. Hawes ◽

B. G. Garber ◽

F. Momoli ◽

W. Gardner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Major Depression ◽

Administrative Data ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Clinical Encounter ◽

Incidence Rates ◽

Occupational Factors ◽

Mental Health Resource ◽

Canadian Armed Forces ◽

Regular Force

Abstract Purpose Major depression is a leading cause of morbidity in military populations. However, due to a lack of longitudinal data, little is known about the rate at which military personnel experience the onset of new episodes of major depression. We used a new source of clinical and administrative data to estimate the incidence of major depression diagnoses in Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel, and to compare incidence rates between demographic and occupational factors. Methods We extracted all data recorded in the electronic medical records of CAF Regular Force personnel, at every primary care and mental health clinical encounter since 2016. Using a 12-month lookback period, we linked data over time, and identified all patients with incident diagnoses of major depression. We then linked clinical data to CAF administrative records, and estimated incidence rates. We used multivariate Poisson regression to compare adjusted incidence rates between demographic and occupational factors. Results From January to December 2017, CAF Regular Force personnel were diagnosed with major depression at a rate of 29.2 new cases per 1000 person-years at risk. Female sex, age 30 years and older, and non-officer ranks were associated with significantly higher incidence rates. Conclusions We completed the largest study to date on diagnoses of major depression in the Canadian military, and have provided the first estimates of incidence rates in CAF personnel. Our results can inform future mental health resource allocation, and ongoing major depression prevention efforts within the Canadian Armed Forces and other military organizations.

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