Military Rules Said to Hinder Therapy
By JAMES DAO and DAN FROSCH
Published: December 6, 2009
Pfc. Jeffery Meier, who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and drug addiction after two deployments to Iraq, got an appointment in August to see a psychiatrist at Fort Carson, Colo.
But when he arrived for his first session, he was asked to sign a waiver explaining that under certain circumstances, including if he admitted violating military laws, his conversations with his therapist might not be kept confidential. He refused to sign.
Private Meier, who is seeking a medical discharge from the Army, was given counseling anyway. But he says he never opened up to his therapist, fearing that actions taken in the heat of battle might be disclosed to prosecutors. “How can you go and talk about wartime problems when you feel that if you mention anything wrong, you’re going to be prosecuted?” he said in an interview.
He is not alone in his wariness. Many soldiers, lawyers and mental health workers say that the rules governing confidentiality of psychotherapist-patient relations in the military are porous. The rules breed suspicion among troops toward therapists, those people say, reducing the effectiveness of treatment and complicating the Pentagon’s efforts to encourage personnel to seek care.
The problem with the military rules, experts say, is that they do not safeguard the confidentiality of mental health communications and records as strongly as federal rules of evidence for civilians. Both systems say therapists should report patients when they seem a threat to themselves or to others. But the military rules include additional exceptions that could be applied to a wide range of suspected infractions, experts say.
read more here
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/07therapists.html?_r=1
This adds to the more barriers to seeking help. It's not bad enough they were first assaulted when they sought help for "not being able to get over it" or being a "slacker" or ridiculed for being weak, now we find out they have been told that what they say in therapy can come back to bite them. This is not a good thing. How is it that civilians end up having so many rights to protect their privacy but the troops have nothing? How can they expect the men and women serving to be honest with therapists when nothing is held in confidence?
When I get requests for help, they are fully aware I am a blogger but they are also fully aware what they tell me will not show up anywhere. The rules for a Chaplain are simple. I only have to report if they are a danger to themselves or to someone else. Anything else is between them and me. It is not my job to judge them or diagnosis them. It is my job to help them begin to heal and understand what is happening inside of them. Since I cannot help them get a claim approved or medicate them, whatever they tell me is taken on face value. After all, they know I can't do much for them unless they are honest with me. In turn, I can't help them if they do not trust me. It has taken a lot of years to get to the point where they know they can. How can the military ever begin to think the soldiers will trust them when they refuse to prove they can be trusted?
