MOD releases latest Armed Forces mental health statistics

The figures show that the numbers of Service personnel assessed with a mental disorder for the first time at one of MOD's Departments of Community Mental Health were around 5.0 per 1000 strength or 0.5% of the total Armed Forces population.

The numbers of Service personnel assessed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for the first time during the same period were around 0.3 per 1000 strength or 0.03% of the total Armed Forces population.

Under Secretary of State for Defence, Derek Twigg MP, said:

"We take very seriously the risk of Service personnel developing mental illness and we are committed to providing them with the best possible care. Defence Medical Services work hard to ensure that individuals have access to advice and treatment at the right time. We have put in place measures to increase awareness at all levels, and to mitigate the development of operational stresses.

"We have mental health professionals deployed on operations and we are also increasingly using Trauma Risk Management (TRiM), a new model of peer group mentoring within the operational environment. If troops need further treatment, our mental health services back in the UK provide community-based mental health care within a military environment in line with national best practice.

"The publication of the second set of results of our new method of collecting and analysing the mental health data demonstrates our continuing commitment to understanding the true relationship between service on deployed operations and mental ill-health - and to making the results available to inform Parliament and the public."