Mental health disorders are on the rise in the military, now causing more hospitalizations than any other disease, according to a new Department of Defense health report.
Diagnoses of mental health problems have increased by 40 percent over the past five years, from 2019 to 2023, according to a Defense Health Agency report. It found that anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) doubled over a five-year period.
By 2023, active-duty service members with mental health problems will account for 54.8% of hospital stays, more than all other ailments combined.
From 2019 to 2023, 541,672 active jobs Service members in every branch have been diagnosed with at least one mental illness, according to the report. About 47% of those were diagnosed with more than one mental health problem. By 2023, there were 1.3 million active duty US troops.
The alarming report follows a New Orleans New Year’s Day car attack that killed 14 people, which revealed that the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was a veteran of the military and had turned himself in several times.
That same day in Las Vegas, Col. Matthew Livelsberger, an active member of the Army Green Berets, shot himself in the head in a Cybertruck loaded with explosives.
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Mental health disorders are on the rise within the military, now accounting for more hospitalizations than any other disease, according to a new Pentagon health report. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
“As service members continue to experience rising rates of mental health disorders in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, help-seeking behaviors to address mental health and emotional health must be prioritized to maintain force readiness,” the report reads.
The Pentagon was not immediately available for comment on what led to the diagnosis and whether the US military is mentally prepared to go to war if needed.
Female service members, both minors and those in the Armed Forces, are more likely to be diagnosed.
The Navy led all other branches in depressive disorders, bipolar disorder and personality disorders.
Female active duty service members have been diagnosed with PTSD at twice the rate of their male counterparts.
Medical data were from records accessed through the Defense Medical Surveillance System and the Theater Data Store. It analyzed ambulance encounters, hospitalizations or inpatient visits to psychiatric facilities, and other factors to define mental health diagnoses.
Meanwhile, military suicides were seen again last year, following a bad trend the Pentagon struggled to fight.
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Diagnoses of mental health problems increased by 40 percent from 2019 to 2023, according to a report by the Defense Health Agency. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
By 2023, active-duty service members with a mental health problem accounted for 54.8% of hospital stays, more than all other illnesses combined. (US Army photo by Markus Rauchenberger)
In total, there were 523 suicides reported in 2023, the most recent data available, up from 493 in 2022.
Suicide is the biggest killer of service members, killing more than training accidents, disease, homicide or combat, according to the report. Department of Defense (DOD). Aside from the numbers, the rate of suicides per 100,000 also increased last year.
Suicides by active duty members have been on the rise since 2011.
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Another worrying sign from the data is how many suicide victims sought help: 67% had a primary care encounter in the 90 days before their death; 34% have attended an outpatient mental health facility; 8 percent had been discharged from an inpatient mental health facility; and 18% were taking psychotropic medication at the time of death.
In the year before their death, 44% of military suicide victims reported problems with intimate relationships, and 42% reported moral health problems.
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