Across the Wire: Veterans, Mental Health and Vulnerability

Abstract: The mental health of veterans of the armed forces and its link to offending has been a subject of considerable concern in recent years. This paper reviews the available evidence and suggests ways of tackling the issues that emerge.

Various social and psychological factors affect the lives of veterans. These may have been caused by events before people entered military service, during service or soon after discharge. They could be a result of previous family, education or social experiences or be a combination of all.

Some of these elements have been discussed at length in the media, and have stimulated widespread debate, most of which has focused on the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans of recent or current active service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most people who serve in Her Majesty’s Forces do not suffer with mental health difficulties even after serving in highly challenging environments. The majority of those who return from high threat locations say that they have had a rounded and fulfilling experience (Greenberg, 2010). The armed forces aim to equip service personnel with training, respect, sense of purpose and belonging as well as life skills for successful transition back to civilian life. However, no system is able to eliminate all risk. There is a vast, and growing, academic interest in the health and well-being of service personnel and veterans. Particularly notable is the work of the King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR, 2010a; KCMHR, 2010b).

This paper explores what we know from published literature about the mental health of people who have served in the armed forces, about the links between mental health and alcohol use in service personnel, and about veterans in the criminal justice system.