Let’s pretend for a moment, gentle reader, that you’re a reporter. Don’t look at me like that, I said we’re just pretending…
You learn of a psychological study that indicates four of six Canadian Forces members with “mental disorders and problems like alcoholism” didn’t seek professional treatment for their supposed problems.
Quiz time!
Do you: a) look up the comparable rate for the general Canadian population on Google to see if this is really a news story; or b) write a piece to be carried in newspapers across the country that makes it seem as if the “stiff-upper-lip military culture” is turning our men and women in uniform into mental health victims?
I know which option I’d go with, gentle reader. Unfortunately – surprise, surprise – the real reporter in question chose differently.
Everybody gets a little flippy at different time in their lives … if we go running to the ‘system’ everytime we flip out for whatever reason the nation will grind to halt.
As I sees it, much of what happens is a result of crazy people working when they should be on vacation.
They’re just following the lead of the NYT in this spurious tale of military woe.
And soon they’ll be following the NYT over the edge of the cliff…..
I have a family member in the military, and have had occasion to sit down and tip a few with a few members now & then. There is what could be described as a “drinking culture” in the military I’d have to say, but no more than there was in the west coast logging camps I used to work in, or with the logging crews I used to work with.
It is not in the Media’s “interest” to report the real story. Why ?
The Media has always Dumbed-Down the news because it is easier to fear-monger, and slant the news with short clips, sound bites — accuracy would just get in the way.
The Internet Era has helped push the MSM into Tabloid territory. Calamity Jane, be afraid, the world is falling apart — but we will save you (with gov’t help). Just send money.
Anyways, the Military is not to be trusted because they may solve the problem and the people of Afghan could then live happy peaceful lives. Does not make a “good” story. Calamity does. Trouble in the Military does.
the problem with mental health is, me as an individual, can’t diagnose myself as having a problem.
unless someone else (family, friend) can help in assessing it and making me aware of it.
if everyone around me is drinking/smoking/etc then it’s accepted behaviour.
weird, eh?
OTOH, i’d say the article is a HATE CRIME as it distinguishes and disparages an identifiable group.
You can file this beside the story where the media is making out like the returning vets are killing and raping everyone in sight without mentioning that they are doing so at rates BELOW that of the general population…
I find it interesting how they use the phrase “four out of six.” Why not “two out of three?”
I guess the number sound bigger and more dramatic that way. At least they didn’t say “six hundred, sixty-six thousand, six hundred, sixty-six out of one million.”
BUT…one of the functions of the enlistment process is to weed out people with mental health issues. Consequently, one would think that initially the stats concerning mental health in the forces would be much better than for the general public.
I agree that the Canadian military is not much different from Canadian society at large in this matter. Diseases of the lungs, liver, musculoskeletal or endocrine systems are often viewed matter-of-factly by laymen, while disorders of the brain cause some people to run screaming out of the room (figuratively speaking). I know of instances of very compassionate management of mental and emotional disorders within the Canadian Forces, utterly insensitive and nasty management of employees’ emotional disorders in civilian life, and vice versa. It’s very dependent on the sufferer and the individuals around them. However, “Members of the Armed Forces Much Like the Rest of Us” doesn’t fit the lib-left narrative of the crazed veteran itching for a rampage, and probably doesn’t sell shampoo, so . . .
BUT…one of the functions of the enlistment process is to weed out people with mental health issues. Consequently, one would think that initially the stats concerning mental health in the forces would be much better than for the general public.
Sure, Iberia, and you might also expect that those who have witnessed the horrors of war would have more mental health issues than the average private citizen.
But neither of those questions were what was measured. It was how many of those who did exhibit some sort of “mental disorder” sought help. And CF members sought help for their perceived problems at the same rate as the rest of society.
This is a non-story.
I’m confused… are you comparing the mental difficulties that arise from say, working a job, raising two kids and keeping the love in the marriage with those that come from working in a war-zone, under constant threat, seeing the death of civilians, friends, co-workers, and having to deal out your own death and judgment when necessary?
Even if the rate of ‘mental disorder’ among the military is similar to that of the Canadian population at large, we didn’t send your husband off to the strip joint causing you mental distress, but we did send that soldier over to Afghanistan to fight for a cause we deemed worthy.
Even if the rates are the same, we have an obligation to follow-up on the health and wellbeing of the military, because of the situations we ask them to go into. We don’t have an obligation to make sure that Johnny Bank Manager is a well adjusted and self-actualized man dealing with a mid-life crisis.
I’m confused… what exactly is it that you find objectionable in a reporter saying, hey, here’s some soldiers who may need help but aren’t getting it. Wouldn’t you want to know that there are people in the military who maybe aren’t getting the help they deserve from us?
Sorry to rant off like this… I’m just shocked to find that people here are talking about the reporter, rather than the issue… we owe the military every benefit we can give them, and if some of them aren’t making full use of those supports, we should ask why before we shrug our shoulders and go back to watching Dr. Phil discuss the latest Celebrity head case.
Arthur A, I don’t object to bringing attention to mental health issues in the CF. I wrote detailed pieces addressing the issue last November when Maj Ruckpaul and Pte Couture both committed suicide. It’s a serious issue and it deserves serious attention.
But this article isn’t serious attention. It misleads the reader by implying that CF members seek help at an especially low rate, and by further implying that such a situation is brought about by a tough-guy culture in our military.
I object to a story that depicts our soldiers, sailors, and airmen (and women) as victims of an unfeeling military culture when this study doesn’t even come close to making such a case.
Can we do more to ensure good mental health in CF members? Undoubtedly. Does an article like this that misinforms the average reader help with that task? Not at all.
Intrepid MSM Reporter’s subconscious to Interpid MSM reporter: “Wow, this looks like an interesting story. Should we bother cross-checking for context? Nah, this fits all your pre-conceived biases and those of 99.99% of your colleagues. So let’s just run with it, ok?”
There was a similar story in the US about the high number of crimes committed by vets. What the reporter neglected to report was that the number for vets was in fact a much lower percentage then for the civilian population.
The other side of seeking help for mental health relates to Kate’s article yesterday. How many “mental disorders” fit into the “yeah so” catagory. How many of today’s mental diseases are simply a case of the human condition that no amount of treatment will repair? How many of these conditions would our grandparents laughed at if you mentioned you had them.
Damien, that’s the clarification I was looking for, thanks.
Arthur A @1:45 PM asserts “I’m just shocked… we owe the military every benefit we can give them…”
Oh, absolutely. Every single one should have a personal grief counselor, therapist, psychoanalyst and stress management physician.
Phases such as “every benefit” are vacuous. You are emoting, not thinking.
Try again.
Guess I view things differently than some of the MSM, but my first instinct would have been to interview the chief of military medical services, to make damned sure our soldiers are getting the best care possible. They protect us, we have to do our best to protect them!
Yes Damian …. the MSM are a bunch of self serving and worthless knobs!
Everything I know about self-esteem, how the world should work,and the easter bunny I learned from the Media.
The confusion is a side effect I guess.
“””””Of those, 1,220 met the criteria for having at least one mental disorder in the previous year.””””
a statement like that marks it as a piece by a damn lefty
lberia said
“””‘BUT…one of the functions of the enlistment process is to weed out people with mental health issues. Consequently, one would think that initially the stats concerning mental health in the forces would be much better than for the general public.”””””
‘cept lbby boy, the military often is the cause, hard to preDICKt the future during “enlistment process”
Not much to say about this, other than to observe that if we gave the lads better stuff to go fight with there’d be more of them around to worry about their drinking problems.
After seeing a few kids blown up you’d drink too, no doubt.
Soldiers make cowards tremble with fear, envy and hatred but they inspire admiration from normal men women and children. The PC are very afraid of the soldiers returning from war – they will speak their minds and some of them might smoke in public places!!
It is best for the yellow-bellied to start attacking them BEFORE they come home! Gives them a head start, so to speak. My Dad said that this attitude was around during/after WWII too. Note how the coward, PET, hated Eric Nielson, a pilot who fought within the RCA during WWII whilst Turdo languished at ‘home’ (Quebec) writing articles supportive of Totalitarian gov’ts like Socialist Germany (NAZI), Communist China, USSR, Cuba….
Oh, you want context do you?
The article says in the very first line “One in five people in Canada has a mental health problem at some point in life.”
Did you ignore that or just not read it at all?
Let’s see, the average human life span is ~77 years in Canada. The average military service is ~22 years or roughly just less than one third the human life span. BUT, in those 22 years the military has the same rates of psychological problems of the whole human spectrum does in 77 years. More than three times the national average.
There, now you have context.
Oh yes, and as GYM said, those prone to psyc problems are filtered out during the recruit process. What do you suppose the rate would be if just anyone was allowed in?
Maybe you owe that CP reporter an apology
The article stating that 1 in 5 Canadians had mental health problems is NOT the CP article stating that 4 of 6 CF members with mental health problems do not seek professional help.
So yes, we do want context – in the CP article. Which was Damian’s point.
I do not think that the conclusion that mental problems during military service are three times worse than in civilian life can be supported, as it does not follow from the argument that during a comparable 22 years of civilian life, the actual rate of mental problems is one third of that of enlisted men. The only conclusion I could draw is that in Canada, an average military service is about one third as long as an average life.
BUT, in those 22 years the military has the same rates of psychological problems of the whole human spectrum does in 77 years.
Substantiate that. I think you’re full of crap.
I also think you’re completely missing the point, Libforlife, which is not what the relative rates of mental disorders per capita are in the CF vs. civilian Canada, but rather the rates at which the two populations seek professional help for their issues. Which are just about identical. Which the CP reporter didn’t bother to mention, instead leading the reader to believe the CF’s are of special concern.
Who’s not reading, again? Oh, that’s right, the Liberal troll. Turning off now.