CLEMSON — Clemson University psychology professor Thomas Britt has received a $1.15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to research why so few military personnel seek mental health treatment.
The grant will fund three years of research into the reasons military veterans do not seek needed mental health treatment to deal with psychological problems resulting from combat exposure. Identifying the reasons can lead to the development of an intervention program to encourage veterans to get necessary treatment.
"There is a stigma attached to mental health treatment in most any situation. But that stigma is magnified in a military environment," Britt said. "Soldiers place a premium on being physically and psychologically robust. These characteristics are essential to the soldier being able to survive in highly demanding environments.
"In addition, soldiers feel a great responsibility to their team members. Thus any threat to their health is likely to be regarded as a threat to their personal competency and to their ability to support their team," he said.
Soldiers are trained to handle high-risk situations and to overcome difficult obstacles, and therefore view themselves as a primary resource for coping, Britt added.
"Soldiers may be less likely to turn to mental health professionals for help, believing that they should be able to handle their problems on their own," Britt said.
Early receipt of treatment for mental health problems can avoid the costs associated with chronic mental health and associated physical health problems, and has the potential to reduce the public health burden of mental illness among the military community.
Clemson psychology professors Cynthia Pury and Heidi Zinzow and Clemson marketing department chairwoman Mary Anne Raymond are co-investigators on the grant.
Britt came to Clemson in 2000. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1994 then entered active duty in the U.S. Army as a research psychologist. He was stationed at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Heidelberg, Germany, from 1994 until 1997, and during that time deployed to Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Hungary and Kazakhstan to study stress, motivation and health among soldiers performing different types of military operations. In 1997 he was assigned to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Forest Glen, Md., and focused on issues related to identity, stress and motivation among military personnel. He left active duty in 1999 and spent a year as an assistant professor in the psychology department at King College in Bristol, Tenn.