Mental Hygiene: Through the Looking Glass

When I began Mental Hygiene, my recently completed novel about Vietnam era duty in
a Mental Hygiene Clinic at Fort Jackson, SC, I had no idea the direct relevance it would
have to the recent flood of articles about mental health in today's military.

The latest piece, in New York Magazine, The Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Celexa,
Effexor, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan, Restoril, Xanax, Adderall, Ritalin, Haldol, Risperdal,
Seroquel, Ambien, Lunesta, Elavil, Trazodone War, by Jennifer Senior, brought back all
the feelings of guilt and shame from my real-life experience as an Army Psych Tech in
1967-68. I have come to realize all too clearly that what I had created in Mental
Hygiene, was a preamble to an indictment of mental health treatment in today's military
culture. I am convinced that voluntary cannon fodder is in many ways preferable, only
because it does not dissent.

In Mental Hygiene the novel, darkly comedic scenes help to relieve the theme of mental
health gone wrong. It's every man for himself in a world where there are only two types
of draftees; those who are waiting to go to Vietnam and those who are already there. The
stakes are high and the draft requirements low as the Nation gears up to half a million
troops in an unpopular war. No one escapes unscathed, even in the fictional Mental
Hygiene.

Today's volunteer military faces a mirror problem, but there is no comic relief in its
smaller numbers and multiple deployments for longer tours of duty. Despite better
training than its preceding draft military, its troops are worn down like unmaintained high
performance cars, broken and discarded into civilian life and the VA system.

Ms. Senior's article states: “If we include accidental death, which frequently is the result
of high-risk behavior (e.g., drinking and driving, drug overdose), we find that less young
men and women die in combat than die by their own actions. Simply stated, we are often
more dangerous to ourselves than the enemy.” In other words, nearly as many soldiers
are dying at home today as are dying abroad.

To be fair, the US Military has put in place new regulations that require asking each
returning deployed troop via written form if he or she is suffering any psychological
difficulties. When polled, most troops with symptoms admitted denying them because
of fear of being delayed from getting back home, or fear of being flagged as a coward or
weakling. Ms. Senior further states that, "For most of the past decade, the Army has
downplayed the collateral damage this war has had on our soldiers’ nerves. Until The
Nation brought the practice to light last spring, the Army sometimes assigned the label of
'personality disorder' to those suffering from post-traumatic stress, often rendering them
ineligible for disability."

From my own personal experience, fictionalized in Mental Hygiene, it's been going on a
lot longer than most of the last decade!
Many articles place the percentage of returning troops with Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) at 1 in 3. In spite of a study by the National Health Institute, that
number has remained static. Mental Hygiene Clinics continue to "process" troops with
prescription drugs without addressing back to back deployments in a culture that rewards
denial. That's the way it was 40+ years ago and still counting.

The officer in charge of the clinic in Mental Hygiene comments, "There’ll be patients
who are in dire need of long-term therapy, with excellent prospects of recovery. Forget
that fact. We are in the processing business here. If we can patch them together or
medicate them to health long enough to ship them to the next stop, good." He could have
said the same thing today. It's not about recognizing the problem, it's about the primary
purpose of one's actions.