Veterans' mental health

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To achieve this, the following points are critical to the commissioning and provision of services.

Commissioners and providers of services need to provide a full range of appropriate and evidence-based interventions for a range of disorders, including depression, PTSD and treatment for alcohol and/or drug misuse.
Veterans could be encouraged to seek help if there was a better understanding, among primary health care and social care professionals in particular, of the culture of the Armed Forces, the particular pressures that veterans may be under and the risk of veterans developing mental health problems. There is a strong case for veterans to be involved in awareness training for health and social care professionals who come into regular contact with veterans.
Veterans themselves need to recognise that seeking help for a mental health issue is not a sign of weakness. Local mental health promotion initiatives could usefully include veterans as a specific target audience. There ...

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