EDITORIAL

OPERATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH

Gabriel Hernández Kunzel, M.D.*
Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Militar Central

* Corresponding author: gabhek@gmail.com address: Tr. 3 No. 49-00,

Operational mental health is one of the key components for the proper functioning of all military forces and it must be secured, prior to, during and after exposure to a conflict or stressful situation inherent to the functions exercised by the military and civilian individuals involved in the defense of a country. Facing traumatic experiences, fatigue and the wear inherent to military operations, generate reactions to stress that are natural responses of the body and the brain. Although individuals with training and preparation to address any type of danger may be able to adjust while the events occur, coming out ahead of the situation from the point of view of their mental health, there are times that witnessing a catastrophic event, or experiencing a long-term or intense threat, causes what is called injury by stress, in which the body and brain continue maintaining a state of high alert, time after the danger has ceased... Operational mental health is precisely designed to detect and assist the combatant psychologically affected in a timely manner and to provide a comprehensive treatment with standards of quality based on excellent humane handling, maintaining an effective communication, framed with respect for the patients and their families. The objective is the integral treatment at all levels and in all areas of prevention - outpatient and inpatient – at the vital moment in which the patient faces the therapeutic team underpinning its practice, development and coordination in multiple theoretical models. Operational mental health offers changes in the design of treatment and prevention, since its interventions linked to the place, time and relation generated with the patients, are focused in their work, social and family functioning.