Nearly 1 in 5 had mental illness before enlisting in Army, study says

The Los Angeles Times ^ | March 3, 2014 | Alan Zarembo

[2ndDivisionVet]

You probably do need your head examined if you joined with "you-know-who" in the head shed, said the guy who first signed up in 1977.

[DB]

ADHD is one of the most over prescribed “illnesses” ever.

It has become and excuse to make boys behave like girls through drugs.

[CPONav]

Considering what constitutes “mental illness” these days, I’m surprised the number isn’t higher.
Every time someone “feels” like their life isn’t perfect, our society has taught him or her to get “help”.
Suck it up, kids. Life’s hard. It’s harder if you’re stupid.

[Little Pig]

As someone who actually has ADD (without the H), and who enlisted in the Army, all I needed was a waiver to get in. I never had any thoughts of killing myself, despite getting deployed for Desert Storm. My unit had one guy go AWOL before deployment, and one of our NCOs freaked during an air raid warning and refused to wear her gas mask, but I did fine.

[Little Pig]

Just to add: frankly, I wouldn’t put ADHD/ADD in the “mental illness” category. Having the disorder doesn’t make you unstable, or incapable of determining reality, or any other debilitating mental state. Certainly there is (in my experience) no aspect of ADHD that makes suicide or self-harm more likely, and none of the more-established medications used in treating the condition enhance the likelihood of such thoughts.

[napscoordinator]

That is what happens when you have a 13 year war. You need people to fight and will accept people that other wise you wouldn't. President Bush knew that requirements would have to be loosened. No biggie. In 2015-2016, the requirements will tighten as the war begin to whine down.

[bike800]

This information will be used to strip them of their gun rights...

[caver]

Couldn’t this same 1 in 5 be a description for the whole population? Is this a hit piece on the military?

[Caipirabob]

Nearly 1 in 5 had mental illness before enlisting in Army, study says

That would account for the number of gay troops, I suppose.

[skinkinthegrass]

consider the sourcing; it's Barbara Streisand..reading no further.

[Eagles6]

Yeah. According to this regime believing that you were born the wrong gender or are sexually attracted to other men’s effluent tubes is not mental illness but being a Constitutionalist is.

[JohnG45]

Yep, just another hit piece on the military. How about a study of journos. I am sure the numbers would be four out of five.

Or how about members of Congress? That ought to be interesting.

[Drango]

80% of government employees have mental illness. Before and now.

[Pan_Yan]

When new guys would report aboard a submarine we used to have a betting pool whether they would make it the first year or crack and either fake an illness or go nuts.

There are people with problems in every field. High amounts of stress usually bring those problems into public view. The military can be very stressfuly.

[2ndDivisionVet]

You mean everything is not like a Tom Clancy novel?

[Pan_Yan]

You mean everything is not like a Tom Clancy novel?

When I was a young man I enjoyed reading Clancy. However my view of the military has matured greatly in the decades since. You gain a lot of perspective after you've been out a while.

[Chickensoup]

How did it change?

[2ndDivisionVet]

I enjoy WEB Griffin as well, but his “hook” is that the main characters are almost always wealthy, which you and I know is rare in the military.

[ilovesarah2012]

Gee, I bet that means that can’t own guns now.