Mental Health & Women in the Military:
Promoting Social Acceptance and Inclusion
To access the archived recording via telephone:
- Call the playback dial-in number: 1-800-262-0844
- When prompted, enter the reference number: 154837#
Teleconference Presentation [PDF Format - 1.2 Mb]
Teleconference Presentation [PowerPoint Format - 1.6 Mb]
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Training Summary
Among the United States armed forces, women currently represent 15 percent of the active duty force, 20 percent of new military recruits and 17 percent of National Guard and Reserve forces.1 Women account for 1.7 million of the 24.4 million veterans nationwide-a number that is projected to nearly double by the year 2010. 2
Women face a unique set of challenges associated with their military service. For example, they may be at higher risk for developing mental illnesses than their male counterparts. Studies indicate that women are twice as likely as men to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).3 Women typically experience more PTSD symptoms than men and endure a longer course of illness, often accompanied by physical problems. Female veterans also were twice as likely as male veterans to have had serious psychological distress in the past year (14.5 vs. 6.5 percent).4
Fear and shame often keep women in the military from reporting acts of trauma and seeking mental health care to help them recover. Service members frequently cite fear of personal embarrassment, fear of disappointing comrades, fear of losing the opportunity for career advancement, and fear of dishonorable discharge as motivations to hide the symptoms of mental illness from colleagues, friends, and family. Women sometimes experience trauma including sexual trauma—while in military service.
1,2 Turner, Carole L. The Veterans Administration and the Women Veterans Health Program:
Caring for a New Generation of Veterans, last accessed 4/11/08.
3 National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. How common is PTSD?, last accessed 4/11/08.
4 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies. (November 1, 2007). The NSDUH Report: Serious Psychological Distress and Substance Use Disorder among Veterans. Rockville, MD, last accessed 4/11/08.
This training will:
- Explore research on women in the military, mental health, and feelings of fear and shame that keep women from seeking care
- Provide an overview of strategies that may help promote acceptance and understanding and reduce negative attitudes in the military related to women, mental health and trauma issues.
Presenters
A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed.
A. Kathryn Power, M.Ed. is Director of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an operating division of the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). CMHS provides national leadership in mental health promotion, mental illness prevention, and the development and dissemination of effective mental health services. Director Power leads a staff of 126 professionals in facilitating the transformation of our nation's mental health care system into one that is recovery-oriented and consumer-centered.
Director Power served on the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health, chartered by Congress in June 2006. Section 723 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2006 directed the Secretary of Defense to examine matters relating to mental health and the Armed Forces and produce "a report containing an assessment of, and recommendations for improving, the efficacy of mental health services provided to members of the Armed Forces by the Department of Defense." The Task Force gathered information from many sources through five primary operations, and submitted the completed report to Congress on June 14, 2007.
Ms. Power recently retired from her position as a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Bryanne Moore
Ms. Moore is currently assigned as an augmentee to the US Army Reserve Command (USARC), redeploying from Baghdad, Iraq where she worked under the Multi-National Security Transition Command- Iraq (MNSTC-I) as the public affairs Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge. Her other assignments include broadcast journalist with the 356th Broadcast Operations Detachment, drill sergeant with the 80th Division's (IT) Company D, 4th/318th MP BN and 2nd/317th REGT BCT, as well as a public affairs specialist with the 214th MPAD under the 99th RRC out of Fort Belvoir. Through her Reserve training and assignments, she has worked with her units and others at Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Belvoir, Fort Gordon, Fort Indiantown Gap, Fort Benning, McEntire Joint National Guard Station, Fort Pickett, Fort Knox, and Fort Jackson as both a drill sergeant and a public affairs specialist.
Ms. Moore has received numerous medals and awards. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology with double minors in leadership studies and political science from Mary Baldwin College. She is currently working toward her Masters of Arts in leadership studies from George Mason University.
Colonel Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, MD, MPH
Colonel Ritchie is the Director of the Proponency of Behavioral Health at the Office of the US Army Surgeon General. She trained at Harvard, George Washington, Walter Reed, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Her assignments and other missions have taken her to Korea, Somalia, Iraq, and Vietnam. An internationally recognized expert, she brings a unique public health approach to the management of disaster and combat mental health issues. She has published numerous articles on forensic, disaster, and military operational psychiatry. In 2005, Colonel Ritchie received the William Porter and Bruno Lima awards. Her textbook, "Mental Health Interventions for Mass Violence and Disaster" was recently published by Guilford Press. Military Medicine published her supplement on Humanitarian Assistance and Health Diplomacy: Military-Civilian Partnership in the 2004 Tsunami Aftermath. She is currently the senior editor on a forthcoming text on Combat and Operational Mental Health.
Presentations
Presentation materials for this event are available below in two file formats: PPT (MS PowerPoint) and PDF (Portable Document Format).
Teleconference Presentation [PDF Format - 1.2 Mb]
Teleconference Presentation [PowerPoint Format - 1.6 Mb]
Please choose to save the presentation file you select to your computer before opening it. Allow for extra processing time when opening large files.