Author:Anshu Gupta, M.Phil. (Medical & Social Psychology)
India has a 1.1 million-strong army, making it the world's second largest after China. With 81 suicides in the year 2006, stress has become biggest worry for the army personnel. Figures given by The Indian Express show that the number of suicides per lakh personnel in the 1.1-million strong Army stands at 10.8. The figure for the US Army is 17 while for Royal and French armies lose 14 and 18 soldiers per lakh. Already in the year 2006, 81 suicides have been reported, compared to 77 in 2005, 100 in 2004 and 96 in 2003 — an average of 88.5 over the past four years.
Another alarming figure is the 23 cases of fratricide in the Indian Army in the past 11 months. These 23 fratricide cases claimed the lives of three officers, four junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and 16 soldiers. Of these, nine cases, involving two officers and seven soldiers, were reported from Jammu and Kashmir and the remaining 14 from the northeast region. This is against 13 cases in 2005 and nine in 2004. The condition is worse in the state of Jammu & Kashmir and the North east region.
The rising rate of suicide and fratricide is of concern and this article is an attempt to analyze the role of psychology in overcoming this crisis. Psychology as we all know is the study of human behavior and its application to the human problems. It is a science as it is based on objective study and experimentation and it is an art as it is applied to various human problems. Military Psychology studies human behavior in the combat situation and attempts to solve the problems faced by the defense personnel.
The role of military psychology becomes important in understanding the behaviors of the personnel, selecting right person for the job, to help the personnel to adjust in the group, train leaders who can effectively lead and boost up the morale of their fellowmen and help to handle the difficult anxiety and panic situations. The concept of individual difference which is the core of psychology needs to be respected while understanding the needs as well as fears of the soldiers.
Each type of profession has its own type of difficulties and demands adjustment to it. Adjustment and devotion in any work gets hampered by the non-fulfillment of the basic needs eg physical as well as emotional needs and this true for our army men too. The need for physical survival and bodily comfort includes the needs for food, shelter, clothing, sleep, rest. The love and affection for families, religious as well as national sentiments are the emotional needs that drive human behavior. Individual faces problems in adjustment right from the initial stage in the army due to shift from civil to army life. There are new requirements which the military service lays upon the individual, resulting in conflict between social and personal needs.
The main difficulties faced by the army personnel has been tried to analyze from psychological perspective and has been outlined below:
- Loss of contact: The individuals in army develop a fear of loosing contact with their near and dear ones due to the leave problems.
- Loss of individual’s freedom: The nature of job is such that it demands strict discipline and every activity is guided. This leaves the individual with the feeling of loosing personal freedom.
- Feeling of loneliness & family worries : Vice Admiral V.K.Singh cited "family problems" to be one of the major cause driving personnel to commit suicide and some personnel decide to end their lives when they visit their family and find them having difficulties in life. Living away from the family in difficult conditions makes them feel lonelier.
- Comparison with counterparts : Many types of adjustment problems develop due to frustration when individual starts comparing himself with his counterparts or is being compared by higher officials.
- Fear of death and getting wounded : One of the most common fear which engulfs the defense personnel is the fear of death. Inspite of the fact that one day everyone has to die and the nature of army profession are such that this fact becomes more evident. But still fear of death keeps building up the stress. In many operations, soldiers get wounded and another fear crops up in
the mind regarding the wound and the impairment or disability it will lead to. - Guilt feeling : In spite of the hard training, many soldiers may suffer from guilt feeling of killing a fellow human being. However, the conscience should be clear that he is doing so for a national cause.
In short, the stress in the army personnel can be attributed to aspects like risk to life, threat of enemy, hardships faced, feeling of loneliness, family worries, loss of sleep and rest, lack of opportunity for change of routine etc.
Keeping in view the present scenario, Government as well as people at various levels has given some proposals to deal effectively with the stress. Some of the proposals and study has been summarized below:
(1) In December, 2006 Defence Minister constituted an expert group of psychiatrists under the Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) to suggest remedial measures.
(2) On the eve of the Army Medical Corps' Foundation Day (29th December, 2006), Vice Admiral V K Singh, Director General of the Armed Forces Medical Service, discussed about the plan to recruit 400 psychiatrists of officer rank to cope with stress that has led to an increase in fratricidal killings and suicides.
(3) Indian Army sends Kashmir forces for rest and has come up with ways to help de-stress overworked soldiers. Rest and Recuperation centers have been set up in northern Jammu and Kashmir region. Soldiers from different units undergo stress-busting therapies of one week. Some people sit back and watch films, while others settle for some meditation.
(4) A parliamentary panel has recommended that the Indian Army should introduce regular lectures and exercises on yoga techniques for its soldiers in field areas to de-stress the jawans in field units. It has also been recommended that the strength of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) be raised in proportion to its increased workload and responsibility.
(5) A study was conducted (Mahdi & Shafiq ) to compare various techniques of stress management in both workers and supervisors of three different organisation (Air Force, Police and CRPF). The study concluded that subjects belonging to three different organisations vary in the magnitude in the stress. And the intervention technique of medication and non medication helped in the reduction of stress where non medication had an edged over medication. Even in non-medication techniques yoga was found to be more powerful than spiritualism.
What should be the goal of stress management program?
An army personnel need to keep him mentally fit along with the physical fitness. He has to mould himself as per the requirement of the job which demands flexibility most of the time.
1. The personnel must be able to use his abilities to full of his satisfaction.
2. He should be able to fit into the team well and forms a useful member by getting along well with his colleagues.
3. On facing problems, personal or professional, he should be able to use constructive measures to solve it.
Some Suggestions:
1. Screening every personnel for possible psychological problems. Psychological tests can be used to screen them out.
2. Individuals showing some pathology to be considered for pharmacological and/or non-pharmacological intervention.
3. Relaxation training and counseling sessions with mental health professional to be arranged at least twice a week.
4. Daily routine should include yoga or meditation along with physical fitness exercise.
5. Sufficient opportunities as well as means for recreation to be provided.
The objective of de-stressing our army needs team work involving qualified and experienced psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatric social workers.
