MoD launch mental health campaign
In a bid to encourage service men and women to come forward if they fear they may be suffering from a mental health concern, the Ministry of Defence has launched a campaign in the hope of spreading awareness and reducing stigma.
The ‘Don’t bottle it up’ scheme is aimed at reducing some of the stigma surrounding mental health concerns among those in the armed forces.
The advertising campaign itself is to be shown on the British Forces Broadcasting Service, and shows a soldier who is trapped inside a bottle and is pounding on the glass walls in an attempt to break free.
The campaign hopes that it will send a message to servicemen and women not to feel ashamed of their mental health problems, and wants to encourage them to come forward and seek help.
Combat Stress, a mental health charity dedicated to helping war veterans and servicemen and women, have also recently launched an awareness campaign. The campaign comes as a response to research conducted by the charity, which revealed that 85% of veterans and their families feel ashamed or embarrassed about having a mental health problem.
According to the charities estimations, around 25% of the 200,000 men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan could be suffering from some form of mental health condition.
Many servicemen and women develop a condition known as Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A condition that see’s the sufferer relive harrowing experiences through flashbacks and vivid dreams among other symptoms.
If you do believe you may be suffering from PTSD then your first port of call should be to your healthcare provider, who will be able to diagnose your condition and recommend appropriate treatment interventions. Some sufferers also find hypnotherapy to be of great benefit, and if you would like to find out more about how this form of treatment may be able to help you, please visit our hypnotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) fact-sheet to find out more.
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