Operational Stress Control and Readiness (OSCAR): The United States Marine Corps Initiative to Deliver Mental Health Services to Operating Forces
Abstract
Combat/operational stress control, defined as programs and policies to prevent, identify, and manage adverse combat/operational stress reactions, is the primary responsibility of military commanders. The role of military mental health professionals in combat/operational stress control is to adapt scientific tools for prevention, identification, and treatment for use by military leaders at all levels. The historical gap between military cultures and those of mental health professions has been an obstacle to the full partnership of psychiatry and the military. Differences in how stress is perceived, and problems with the conceptualization of adverse stress reactions have contributed to the marginalization of military psychiatry in theatre, and a widening gap between stress problems identified in theatre and those surfacing after deployment. The U.S. Marine Corps Operational Stress Control and Readiness (OSCAR) program is an innovation that attempts to bridge the gap between mental health science and the art and science of military operations by embedding mental health professionals at the level of infantry regiments, air wings, and logistics groups. OSCAR mental health professionals are not primarily clinical health care providers, but rather combat/operational stress control specialists who educate and are educated by their Marines through repeated contact in the field and the sharing of adversity, before deployment, during deployment, and after deployment. The OSCAR program shows promise as a line military tool to reduce stigma, increase awareness among warfighters of combat/operational stress control principles, provide effective care within the small unit, increase access to care, and reduce long-term deployment-related stress problems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA472703
Entities
People
- William P. Nash