Substance abuse counselor and client reports of mental health screening and enhanced practices.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine mental health screening practices and attitudes from both counselor and client perspectives in the U.S. Marine Corps substance abuse program. METHOD: This study examined mental health screening practices and attitudes of 23 substance abuse counselors and 442 clients from six Marine Corps substance abuse counseling centers. RESULTS: After receiving training on screening and enhanced counseling practices, 76% of counselors reported that they almost always screened their clients for post-traumatic stress symptoms. Seventy-three percent of clients agreed that substance abuse counselors should ask about their clients' stress concerns. CONCLUSION: Overall, implementing screening for common mental disorders was feasible in this setting. Counselors may need further support to increase collaboration with mental health professionals and adapt treatment plans to address co-occurring mental health conditions.

Multiple lineages of monkeypox virus detected in the United States, 2021-2022.

Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease endemic in Central and West Africa. In May 2022, dozens of non-endemic countries reported hundreds of monkeypox cases, most with no epidemiological link to Africa. We identified two lineages of monkeypox virus (MPXV) among two 2021 and seven 2022 US monkeypox cases: the major 2022 outbreak variant called B.1 and a minor contemporaneously sampled variant called A.2. Analyses of mutations among these two variants revealed an extreme preference for GA-to-AA mutations indicative of human APOBEC3 cytosine deaminase activity among Clade IIb MPXV (previously West African, Nigeria) sampled since 2017. Such mutations were not enriched within other MPXV clades. These findings suggest that APOBEC3 editing may be a recurrent and a dominant driver of MPXV evolution within the current outbreak.

Postcombat outcomes among Marines with preexisting mental diagnoses.

Preexisting mental disorders are not always considered in mental health studies with military populations, even though prior diagnoses may be a risk factor for additional psychiatric harm stemming from combat exposure, as well as postdeployment behavioral problems. The objectives of this study were to investigate postcombat psychiatric and career outcomes among Marines with preexisting mental disorder diagnoses who deployed to combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Kuwait from 2002 to 2008. Marines with a preexisting diagnosis were 3.6 times (p < .001) more likely to have at least 1 postdeployment mental health disorder within 6 months postdeployment compared with Marines with no prior psychiatric diagnoses. Marines with a preexisting diagnosis were also 1.8 (p < .001) times more likely to receive a new-onset psychiatric diagnosis within 6 months postdeployment, indicating that postdeployment mental health concerns in this cohort extend beyond continuation of earlier disorders. Additionally, demotions and separation were significantly associated with having any preexisting mental health diagnoses (yielding odds ratios of 2.34 and 2.00, p < .001, respectively. Based on the current findings, it may be advisable to mandate a full medical and psychiatric record review during deployment health screening as part of new initiatives to address whether combat exposure has worsened preexisting conditions or compounded them with new-onset concerns.

Mud-P22.

Mud-P22 derivatives are hybrids between phage Mu and P22 that can be inserted at essentially any desired site on the Salmonella chromosome (Benson and Goldman, 1992; Youderian et al., 1988). Induction of Mud-P22 insertions yields phage particles that, as a population, carry chromosomal DNA from the region between 150 and 250Kb on one side of the insertion. Thus, phage lysates from a representative set of Mud-P22 insertions into the S. typhimurium chromosome yield an ordered library of DNA that provides powerful tools for the genetic and physical analysis of the Salmonella genome. Although Mud-P22 has not yet been used in other species, this approach should be applicable in a variety of other bacteria as well.

Acceptability of mental health stigma-reduction training and initial effects on awareness among military personnel.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the development of a mental health stigma reduction toolkit and training, and the acceptability and level of stigma awareness following the stigma-reduction training for military personnel. The overall aims of the training were to provide discussion tools highlighting the experiences of Marines seeking help for stress concerns, improve communication between leaders and their Marines around the issue of help seeking, and familiarize Marines with behavioral health treatment. Senior enlisted leaders and officers (N = 52) from a Marine Corps battalion participated in a pretest, 2-h stigma-reduction training and immediate posttest. Acceptability of the training was measured by querying participants about the usefulness and helpfulness of the training among other factors, and stigma awareness was measured with 10 items about mental health stigma. The stigma-reduction training and materials were well accepted by participants. In addition, there was a significant improvement in four of ten stigma-reduction awareness concepts measured before and immediately after the training, which included an increase in agreement that mental health treatments are usually effective in reducing stress reactions [t(51) = -3.35, p = 0.002], and an increase in disagreement that seeking counseling after a deployment will jeopardize future deployments [t(51) = -3.05, p = 0.004]. Level of agreement with several statements including those regarding perceptions of invincibility, and malingering, among others, did not change significantly after the training. The stigma-reduction training containing educational and contact strategies was highly acceptable to the leaders and may have promise for initially dispelling myths associated with seeking help for stress concerns among military service members; however, results indicate that there is clearly more work to be done in combatting stigma.

Implications of psychiatric comorbidity among combat veterans.

Limited research exists regarding the rates of and outcomes associated with psychiatric comorbidity among active duty military personnel. This study investigated the rates of comorbid psychiatric diagnoses among 81,720 U.S. Marines, and assessed the relationships between preexisting comorbid disorders and risk of psychiatric hospitalizations and attrition from service. The study used medical, deployment, and personnel records for all Marines who enlisted between 2002 and 2005. The baseline rate of comorbidity was 1.3% for Marines who deployed during the first term of service, and 6.3% for Marines who did not deploy. The most common baseline comorbidity among deployed Marines was mood disorders with anxiety disorders, and mood and adjustment disorders among nondeployed Marines. Logistic regression analyses revealed Marines with comorbid diagnoses before deployment were over three times more likely to attrite (odds ratio = 3.4, p < 0.001) and over five times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric symptoms (odds ratio = 5.1, p < 0.001) following deployment than those with no diagnoses. Similar patterns emerged among nondeployers. Outcomes associated with comorbid conditions were substantially worse than outcomes for single conditions. These findings demonstrate that Marines with a history of comorbid psychiatric diagnoses are at a much greater risk for adverse outcomes, specifically attrition from the military and psychiatric hospitalization.