Last week Dr. Nelson Handal, founder and medical director of
Harmonex and Dothan Behavioral Medicine, testified before Congress regarding a
newly developed mental health assessment tool, Clinicom.
As reported by the Dothan Eagle, Clinicom is a computer-based tool that
generates a patient mental health assessment across 56 different mental health
diagnostic categories within an hour. These diagnoses include substance abuse,
alcoholism and post traumatic stress disorder. The tool also promotes
physician diagnostic input, allowing a physician to override diagnoses and most
importantly, it is a tool that supports patient privacy. These attributes make the tool very attractive the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs.
Currently, the DoD and VA are treading water while trying to
merge their health care information systems in order to create a seamless
transition for soldiers when returning home—therefore, their interest in
jumpstarting new technology projects appears apathetic. However, they cannot avoid the elephant in the room—soldiers are
struggling and need mental health diagnoses and support during and upon their
return from tours of duty. This tool appears to shift the agencies in the
right direction because it engages soldiers in a private manner, despite the
cries for a cultural shift regarding the stereotypes of mental illness.
Both agencies are struggling with
growing incident rates of mental health diagnoses and suicide among soldiers
and veterans. In multiple studies, the findings are troubling—in 2005, Archive
of Internal Medicine documented that over one-third of soldiers, on
average, returning from war were subsequently diagnosed with a mental illness.
The Journal
of American Medical Association (JAMA) reported in 2006 that almost 20 percent
of soldiers report a mental health diagnosis upon return from combat. Since 2007-08 when
the media spotlighted the growing incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) and the lack of resources in support of its diagnosis, improvements
developed quickly to respond to the growing mental health needs of soldiers. These include counseling centers, assessments, and better leadership training.
The institutional changes encourage a soldier’s exit from combat and
hopeful re-entry following treatment. That being said, the numbers continue to
rise. So far in 2009, the suicide rate among soldiers is 6 times what is was
this time last year.
Ironically, the testimony by Dr. Handal came two days following the shooting of
5 soldiers in Iraq by a fellow soldier.
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