Navigating Mental Health & Firearm Ownership: Resources for Military Families
Mental health or, more exactly, the lack of it, is a very touchy subject. At some point, mental illness overwhelms the original personality, requiring hospitalization. However, not all mental issues are drastic or permanent. A person can experience transient unease, depression, anxiety, or other emotional malaise without incapacitation or legal disability.
Check-ins
The problem with such a state is the possibility of self-harm or harming others. It is an especially potent problem for veterans, who often have both the traumatic experiences making re-adaptation to civilian life more difficult, and the capacity to do serious damage enhanced by training. Due to self-discipline, veterans are more likely to commit suicide than to kill others, to the tune of more than six thousand annually. Handling a mental health crisis is not an exact science, difficult enough for professionals…it’s harder to handle from the inside of the mind in a crisis. The Buddy system works for spotting incipient issues, but many people in distress avoid other people. Some do it as a result of feeling off, others out of concern for incurring expenses or legal disabilities due to entanglements with psychiatric services.
As a result, checking up on veterans becomes the function of a loose net of fellow veterans, friends, and family. While they can usually spot problems, few have the medical or psychological training to diagnose and treat them. This is where professional and volunteer organizations can help. Several organizations maintain websites and phone lines for people in trouble: Veterans Crisis Line, Veterans Crisis Line and Military Onesource, among others, provide live chat. By phone, just dial 988, then choose option 1. BlueStarFam.org extends the support and advising to veterans’ families as well. The Veterans’ Administration provides counseling, along with help in solving problems that aggravate the emotional unease.
Recognize the First Signs
The main problem is recognizing the issues in the first place. Often, PTSD manifests itself as insomnia, excessive risk-taking, uncontrolled anger, sadness, and other symptoms. Such symptoms can be recognized the same way that hypothermia and dehydration can be spotted, through advance learning of their signs. Given the persistence of PTSD in veterans, it’s worth going over the signs of psychological disturbance in self and others before separation from the service. It’s not uncommon for people to feel that non-military people do not understand them, extending that sentiment to psychologists and other mental health professionals. Finding counseling through the military, with people who have a common mindset, can increase the effectiveness of the intervention.
Organizations
These organizations are largely peer-led, providing a more understanding environment. The key problem remains that people in need of an intervention or support seldom reach out for it: the culture of self-reliance edges out the culture of teamwork. Saving veterans becomes a mission for their friends and family.
Firearm Possession
Firearms, their possession and carry, become a sticky point. Rendering a person who is already in poor spirits defenseless does little to raise them. Internally motivated actions, such as locking up guns and giving the key to a friend or family member before starting a drinking party or once aware of a depressive episode, is probably more effective. I have one friend who loves marksmanship training but won’t keep a gun on hand due to episodes of despondency and a history of self-harm.
Conclusion
It’s important for the veterans in question to initiate their own calls for help. Involuntary commitment can disqualify a person from owning and carrying guns, while voluntary request for help usually does not. Both legal and medical aspects of PTSD and other emotional disorders should become a part of military education, as a considerable number of veterans experience them. While their suicide rate is “only” 1.5x of the mainstream population, it could stand to be lower. A high proportion of military suicides is performed with firearms, making the attempts more likely to be completed than most other methods. Combination of alcohol and psychotropic drugs often leads to impulsive actions, so even a safe combination can be sufficient to frustrate an attempt to get to a firearm when not in the right mind. Dealing with mental health emergencies, therefore, requires advance planning best done while still in the service. Prior to separation, a lot more eyes are on every serviceman, and more resources are available.
Written by: Oleg Volk
