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More corpsmen, psych teams for PTSD

Within two years, the Navy plans to stand up 23 deployable psychiatric teams, enough to provide an embedded unit to every Marine regimental combat team, the Navy’s top doctor said.

The teams, known as Navy Operational Stress Control and Readiness teams, or OSCAR teams, were created two years ago. Seven teams have been fielded.

Each has four or five members. They are led by a psychiatrist or psychologist and include at least three corpsmen who hold the psychiatry technician Navy Enlisted Classification. Future teams of five could include social workers, occupational therapists and psychiatric nurse practitioners.

Navy mental health care providers traditionally have been based at hospitals, but critics say that system is ill-suited to serve troops, especially in wartime.

“We want to put mental health professionals with our small-unit leaders,” Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Adam Robinson said. “We think if we can train them there. Tere’s a real synergy that can come. We can be there to help with treatment, training and surveillance.”

Nearly six in 10 service members said their Afghanistan deployments left them with “negative experiences” associated with stress, according to an American Psychiatric Association study. But of those, less than 10 percent sought treatment. Nearly half of the 347 troops studied said they had difficulty sleeping. About as many reported depression. One-third said they had less interest in daily activities.

Because the teams will deploy with units, Robinson said, professionals will be able to treat problems at earlier stages, when they can be better managed.

He said a primary benefit of embedding with forward-deployed units is that providers can develop relationships with service members, fostering the trust needed for troops to admit having problems.

Another hurdle to seeking care is that Marines and sailors often feel guilty about leaving their shipmates in harm’s way while they head to the rear for treatment, officials said. With embedded teams, troops won’t have to leave their units to receive care.

Team members will be drawn from hospitals and will embed with a unit for the duration of its tour.

Robinson said he anticipates commissioning more social workers — the Navy has only 28 in uniform. Despite the shortage and the fact that the Navy has no psychiatric nurse practitioners in service, he said there are sailors of other disciplines to form the teams.