Abstracts by keywords: expert opinions
Bundeswehr missions abroad have become a piece of normality (Frank Bötel 2016). But these missions are accompanied by stressful experiences for the soldiers and consequences for their mental health. For example, 2.9 % of the soldiers deployed in 2009 as part of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder 12 months after the deployment (Wittchen et al. 2012). This 12-month prevalence is not only significantly higher compared to the control soldiers who are not deployed, but also compared to the rates of the age- and gender-adjusted German general population (Jacobi et al. 2014). In addition, it must be feared that the prevalence rates of mental illness after foreign assignments in general (Kang and Hyams 2005), and that of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in particular (Brewin et al. 2012) will even increase over the years. A key task that not only the Bundeswehr but all those involved in the care of mentally ill people have to face is how to deal with soldiers of the Bundeswehr who have become mentally ill as a result of the deployment (Holtherm 2014). From the point of view of care, the situation is made more difficult by the fact that soldiers, after leaving the Bundeswehr, switch to the civilian German care system, in which the vast majority of service providers no longer have any personal experience with the military system. So far, however, there are no meaningful scientific findings for Germany either on the subjective need for care or on the objective need for care of former soldiers who are now in the civilian health system.