ArticleEpidemiology and psychiatric sciences2017
Prevalence and severity of mental disorders in military personnel: a standardised comparison with civilians.
Article in Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Work-related posttraumatic stress disorder in paramedics in comparison to data from the general population of working age. A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Barriers and facilitators of videoconferencing psychotherapy implementation in veteran mental health care environments: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2020Pooled it
- The peer-led Honest, Open, Proud program to decrease the impact of mental illness stigma among German military personnel: randomized controlled trial.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Trial
- Evaluation of an internet-based intervention for service members of the German armed forces with deployment-related posttraumatic stress symptoms.BMC psychiatry · 2020Trial
- Narrative exposure therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and appetitive aggression among soldiers retiring from active service in Uganda.Research square · 2026Article
- The association between childhood maltreatment and neural functioning during a working memory task in adults with internalizing disorders.Brain imaging and behavior · 2026Article
- Underreporting in the military: perceived sensitivity of trauma-related and comorbid disorders among soldiers and civilian employees of the Austrian Armed Forces.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Cumulative incidence of mental disorders in military personnel after 20 years of war in Afghanistan and 10 years in Mali - a comparison.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Severity profiles of depression, anxiety, and stress among non-commissioned officers in the Ghana armed forces: a cross-sectional study at Burma camp.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Psychological distress across the deployment cycle: comparing pre- and peri-pandemic trajectories.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Psychiatric exemptions at call-up and during military service: A comparative study.Military psychology : the official journal of the Division of Military Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- United States Army Reserve/National Guard soldiers' healthcare experiences, attitudes, and preferences: Differences based on deployment status.Psychology, health & medicine · 2024Article
- Burnout and moral injuries after foreign deployment among medical personnel of the German armed forces: a pre-post study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Mental healthcare utilisation among Danish formerly deployed military personnel and their civilian counterparts: a cohort study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Article
- The association between a priori dietary patterns and psychological disorders in military personnel.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Problem drinking recognition among UK military personnel: prevalence and associations.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2023Article
- Deployment-related quarantining-a risk or resilience factor for German military service members? A prospective analysis during the third-fifth waves of COVID-19.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Psychiatric Disorders among the Military in West Africa: A Systematic Narrative Review.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Neurological and psychiatric safety of tafenoquine in Plasmodium vivax relapse prevention: a review.Malaria journal · 2020Review
- Associations Between Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Deployed Service Members of the German Armed Forces.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsProvision and need for mental health services among military personnel are a major concern across nations. Two recent comparisons suggest higher rates of mental disorders in US and UK military personnel compared with civilians. However, these findings may not apply to other nations. Previous studies have focused on the overall effects of military service rather than the separate effects of military service and deployment. This study compared German military personnel with and without a history of deployment to sociodemographically matched civilians regarding prevalence and severity of 12-month DSM-IV mental disorders.
method1439 deployed soldiers (DS), 779 never deployed soldiers (NS) and 1023 civilians were assessed with an adapted version of the Munich Composite International Diagnostic interview across the same timeframe. Data were weighted using propensity score methodology to assure comparability of the three samples.
resultsCompared with adjusted civilians, the prevalence of any 12-month disorder was lower in NS (OR: 0.7, 95% CI: 0.5-0.99) and did not differ in DS. Significant differences between military personnel and civilians regarding prevalence and severity of individual diagnoses were only apparent for alcohol (DS: OR: 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1-0.6; NS: OR: 0.2, 95% CI: 0.1-0.6) and nicotine dependence (DS: OR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.6; NS: OR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.7) with lower values in both military samples. Elevated rates of panic/agoraphobia (OR: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.4-5.3) and posttraumatic stress disorder (OR: 3.2, 95% CI: 1.3-8.0) were observed in DS with high combat exposure compared with civilians.
conclusionsRates and severity of mental disorders in the German military are comparable with civilians for internalising and lower for substance use disorders. A higher risk of some disorders is reduced to DS with high combat exposure. This finding has implications for mental health service provision and the need for targeted interventions. Differences to previous US and UK studies that suggest an overall higher prevalence in military personnel might result from divergent study methods, deployment characteristics, military structures and occupational factors. Some of these factors might yield valuable targets to improve military mental health.
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