WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. -- Military families are faced with a number of challenges that impact health and wellness, including anxiety, separation-induced stress and physical disabilities.
For National Wellness Month in August, Westover’s Director of Psychological Services Beth Williams is sharing tips on how military members and their families can stay well both in and out of uniform.
“It all goes back to how we manage stress,” Williams said. “If we don’t manage our stress properly it starts affecting us physically and mentally. Depression increases, anxiety increases, we see people becoming more angry or irritable and loss of appetite is common. Then after a while people tend to go to more extremes. So it’s really important to manage our stress properly.”
Approximately forty-three percent of all adults in the U.S. suffer adverse physical health effects from stress over their lifetime, according to WebMD. Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression and anxiety.
“Everyone has stress, it’s a normal part of life,” Williams said. “There’s good stress and bad stress. We may feel stressed before taking a test or going to an interview. But it’s knowing how to bring your stress level and heartrate down to where you’re not carrying that level of stress all day long. It comes with good coping skills.”
One of the best ways to manage stress is to maintain physical fitness. Exercise reduces levels of the body's stress hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol. Blood flowing to the brain during exercise also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals that are the body's natural mood elevators, according to Harvard Health.
“If you’re working out and practicing good eating habits, that can play a big part in your mental health,” Williams said. “Keeping an exercise routine is important. I also recommend just going for a walk and getting some sunlight especially in the winter. Just fifteen minutes outside in the winter can make a big difference even if its cloudy.”
Other tips for managing stress include practicing deep breathing and meditation exercises, prayer, yoga, swimming or playing music. For some, talking to friends or family can reduce stress. Williams said that everyone is different and that each person has to find out what activities work best for them. However, using coping methods like cigarettes, drugs or alcohol to manage stress have negative physical and mental health consequences.
Technology is also playing a role in helping manage stress and anxiety. Apps that combine mindfulness and meditation to manage anxiety symptoms are becoming more popular. Williams said that she recommends the meditation app Insight Timer for both its ease of use and exercises to reduce stress and help with sleep. Other apps like Tactical Breather help reduce stress through guided breathing exercises.
The stress reducing app Mindfulness Coach, developed by the National Center for PTSD, was developed to help veterans, service members, and others learn how to practice mindfulness.
“The point to which stress goes from normal to someone needing help is really different for each person,” Williams said. “If someone has had an event in their life that has brought them down mentally, that sometimes goes away on its own. But when we’re talking about when to refer someone, it’s if the depression or anxiety has been going on for a while and it impacts their daily behaviors.”
Williams said depression and anxiety that lasts greater than a month, often is an indicator that someone may need to seek professional help. Behaviors such as eating too little or too much, being anti-social or withdrawing from others can be indicators.
“When it’s almost constant or uncontrolled, that’s when it’s more concerning,” Williams said. “It becomes a problem if it starts affecting your job. If you’re a pilot or part of an aircrew and you’re getting a lot of stress before each flight. That’s when I would encourage someone to get help and that can be either through medication or not. Sometimes all people need is someone to talk to.”
Williams said that military members who seek help for mental health should not feel ashamed or worried about how it will impact their career. Williams, who is a mandatory reporter for anyone experiencing suicidal ideation or domestic violence, said the number of DOD members who lose their security clearance over more common mental health reasons is very minimal.
“There’s about 2.3 million people whose security clearance went up for adjudication and of that number less than 47,000 were for mental health reasons,” Williams said. “If you break that down even further, only about 12 people had their security clearance either revoked or denied for a mental health reason last year. Those are for much more serious mental health issues that cannot be treated with medication or for multiple drug failures.”
For military members seeking mental health services outside of the military, Williams said it’s important to notify your chain of command to ensure compliance with DOD policies.
“As part of your security clearance, the DOD will ask if you received mental health treatment. If you say ‘no’ but did seek help or were put on medication, that’s when your security clearance can be flagged. It’s important that military members tell their chain of command if they are seeking help for mental health in their civilian life. If you go through the proper channels, you’re risk of getting your clearance revoked is minimal.”
Williams’ office is located inside the airman family and readiness building.
“We’ve come a long way in breaking that stigma around mental health since I first started,” Williams said. “It’s important to recognize that if you need help, there is no shame in getting it.”