Literature Review Of Operation Enduring Freedom And Operation Iraq Freedom Veterans

Literature Review
Following combat many Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraq Freedom veterans suffer from mental health issues: such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, a majority of those in this population do not seek help for these problems due to the stigmas surrounding mental healthcare. Very little is being done to eliminate these stigmas and reflect mental healthcare in a positive light. A study conducted by Hearne (2013) states that Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraq Freedom veterans are at a higher risk of mental health disorders than the general population. In 2002, 6.4% of veterans reported some sort of mental health disorder, however, by 2008 this percentage had increased to 36.9%. Not only are

Hector et al. (2014) states that less than 10% of this population receive the recommended amount of mental health treatment within the first few months of care. OEF/OIF veterans miss more mental healthcare appointments, compared to other veteran populations, and have a 68% dropout rate. Researchers believe this is attributed to the fact that 85% of OEF/OIF veterans are men and are of a younger population. This leads many to believe that these men follow a masculine ideology. The traditional masculine ideology suggests that young men associate psychological help with negative attitudes. These men also believe that they should be able to handle problems on their own and that treatment will make their problems worse. (Hector et al.,

However, the barriers surrounding mental healthcare hinder this population from seeking help. Negative treatment attitudes can be related to testing positive for a problem and this attitude is twice as likely to be found in those that test positive for a mental health problem. The behaviors in this population can be linked to avoidance behaviors and suicidal tendencies. They also had a poorer quality of life and suffered from physical, psychological and social problems. (Britt, More & Wright, 2014) This was a longitudinal study that hoped to examine whether impediments of stigma, barriers to care and negative treatment attitudes predicted changes in mental health symptoms. Researchers studied participants for 3 months before their deployment and then did a follow up 4 months after their