Navy to put more psychologists on board

A U.S. Navy initiative that assigned psychologists to five aircraft carriers has so successfully reduced sailors' mental health problems that five more carriers have been added to the program.

The decision to equip the carriers with mental health services came after two trials from 1996 to 1998, in which psychologists were sent to sea for six-month deployments. Those trials reduced the number of sailors evacuated from ships and sent back to shore for psychological evaluations, saving both money and loss of manhours, says Cmdr. Marsha Beaugrand, PhD, Specialty Leader for Clinical Psychology to the Surgeon General.

Carriers were selected because each has a large medical facility that serves not only the thousands of personnel on board, but the crews of all of the ships attached to its battle group. Other Navy ships, in contrast, often have room aboard for only one medical staffer.

According to Beaugrand, the role of the psychologist at sea is similar to that of the shore-based psychologist, with the average caseload centering on behavioral and emotional adjustment around personal and work issues.

However, the seagoing psychologist deals with some unique shipboard issues including marital and family problems caused by long separations, as well as adjustments to loss of privacy and long work hours. The most common types of problems sailors experience, says Beaugrand, include anger, anxiety and depression, including suicidal ideation.

Having a psychologist on board not only cuts down the cost of having to evacuate a sailor for a psychological evaluation on shore, says Beaugrand, but also provides opportunities for health promotion and early intervention. Such services include classes on anger management, stress management and suicide prevention.

The Navy employs about 120 military psychologists, of whom 75 percent work in medical facilities worldwide, and 25 percent serve directly with operational units, including the carriers.

"The exciting part of having psychologists on board the carriers is being able to practice with a unique community and being of direct assistance in ensuring the readiness of our forces," Beaugrand says.

--L. Mattas-Curry



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