Military psychology is a specialization within psychology that applies psychological science to promote the readiness of military members, organizations, and operations. Military psychologists provide support to the military in many ways, including through direct clinical care, consultation to military commanders, teaching others and supporting military training; and through research relevant to military operations and personnel.
Military psychology as a field has been growing since the early 20th century, evidence that the demands and needs for psychological clinical and operational application is continuing to grow steadily. There are many stressors associated with military service, including exposure to high-risk training and combat. As such, psychologists are critical support components that assist military leaders in designing appropriate training programs, providing oversight to those programs, and assisting military members as they navigate the challenges of military training and their new lifestyle.
Military psychology covers a wide range of fields throughout the military including operational, tactical, and occupational psychology. Gender differences between military-trained personnel who seek mental health assistance have been extensively studied. Specific examples include post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with combat, or guilt and family/partner difficulties accompanying extended or frequent deployments due to separation. Clinical providers in military psychology are often focused on the treatment of stress, fatigue, and other personal readiness issues.
Previous wars such as the Korean War, Vietnam War, and World War II provide great insight to the workings and practices of military psychology and how the practices have changed and assisted the military over the years.
Role The military is a group of individuals who are trained and equipped to perform national security tasks in unique and often chaotic and trauma-filled situations. These situations can include the front-lines of battle, national emergencies, counter-terrorism support, allied assistance, or the disaster response scenarios where they are providing relief-aid for the host populations of both friendly and enemy states. Though many psychologists may have a general understanding with regards to a humans response to traumatic situations, military psychologists are uniquely trained and experienced specialists in applied science and practice among this special population. While the service members may be providing direct aid to the victims of events, military psychologists are providing specialized aid to both members, their families, and the victims of military operations as they cope with the often "normal" response or reaction to uncommon and abnormal circumstances. Military psychologists can assess, diagnose, treat and recommend the duty status most suitable for the optimal well-being of the individual, group, and organization. Through the use of group therapy, individual therapy, and behavior modification, these psychologists actively treat psychological disorders, most commonly emotional trauma. When counseling members of a military personnel's family, they are most often tasked with providing grief counseling after the loss of a loved one in the line of duty. Events that affect the mental state, resilience or psychological assets and vulnerabilities of the warrior and the command are where military psychologists are most equipped to meet the unique challenges and provide expert care and consultation to preserve the behavioral health of the fighting force.
In addition to the specialized roles previously mentioned, military psychologists often provide support to many non-healthcare-related activities. For example, military psychologists may provide their expertise and training in the consultation to hostage negotiations. Military psychologists are not hostage negotiators; however, they often consult [ation] with those directly communicating with hostage-takers in a manner that seeks the safety and protections of all involved. Military psychologists may also apply their science to aviation selection and training, to the study and application of survival training, and the selection of personnel for special military duties.
Another common practice domain for military psychologists is in performing fitness for duty evaluations, especially in high risk and high reliability occupations. The types of fitness evaluations include both basic entry examinations and career progression examinations such as those conducted when individuals are seeking promotion, higher-classification clearance status, and specialized, hazardous, and mission critical working conditions. When operational commanders become concerned about the impact of continuous, critical, and traumatic operations on those in their command, they often consult with a military psychologist.
The fitness evaluations might lead to command directed administrative actions or provide the information necessary to make decisions by a medical board or other tribunal and must be thoroughly conducted by non-biased individuals with the experience and training necessary to render a professional opinion that is critical to key decision makers. Military psychologists must be well versed in the art and science of psychology as specialized applied practice professionals. They must also be highly competent generalists in the military profession, and be able to understand both professions well enough to examine human behavior in the context of military operations. It takes the psychologist several years beyond the doctorate to develop the expertise necessary to understand how to integrate psychology with the complex needs of the military.
Another very select and infrequent use of military psychology is in the interview of subjects, the interrogation of prisoners, and the vetting of those who may provide information of operational or intelligence value that would enhance outcomes of friendly military operations or reduce friendly and enemy casualties. Psychology's scientific principles applied here allow the interviewer, agent, or interrogator to get as much information as possible through non-invasive means without the need to resort to active measures or risk violating the rules of engagement, host nation agreements, international and military law or crossing the threshold of the Geneva Conventions' guidelines to which the United States and its allies subscribe, regardless of the status of many of the modern belligerent countries on the international laws and United Nations agreements.
Area of study The goals and missions of current military psychologists have been retained over the years, varying with the focus and strength of intensity of research put forth into each sector. Working in research as a military psychologist entails performing personnel research, such as determining what traits are best utilized in which positions, the training procedures, and analyzing what variables impact the health and performance of military personnel. The need for mental health care is now an expected part of high-stress military environments. The importance and severity of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has gained more credibility than those suffering from it received in the past, and is being highlighted in treatment programs. More extensive post-deployment screenings take place now to home in on problematic recoveries that used to be passed unnoticed and untreated.
Terrorism Terrorism and counterterrorism, information management, and psychological warfare are value-added roles for the applied aspects of military psychology that are developing. For instance, contrary to the common myths and stereotypes about modern terrorists, that tend portray them as mentally disturbed individuals; most terrorists are far from that typology according to studies conducted by behavioral and social scientists who have either directly interviewed and observed terrorists or conducted meta-analytic studies of terrorism and terrorists.
Terrorists have tended to be from among the more well educated in their host countries. They often have developed a well thought out, but not very often publicized or well articulated, rigid ideology that provides the foundation for their strategy and tactics. Psychologically disturbed terrorists increase the risk of damage to the terror organization's strategic outcomes. As in any organization, mentally disturbed terrorists are a liability and the leaders of terrorist groups are well aware of the risks that these types of persons present. As any good organizational leader, the effective terrorist will try to recruit the best person for the job.
It is important to understand when and how the label of terrorism is applied because of its psychological impact as suggested above. The causes, goals, methodology, and strategy of the terrorist mindset is well suited for psychological inquiry and the development of the strategy and tactics used to confront it. Terrorism is an ideology that uses behavioral, emotional, and group dynamics, along with social and psychological principles to influence populations for political purposes. It is a form of psychological warfare. The terrorists are experts in the use of fear, violence, threats of violence and trauma in order to advance the political agenda. Terrorists seek psychological control and use violent behavior to cause the population to behave in ways that disrupt and destroy the existing political processes and symbols of political power. They control people by using deep primal emotions to elicit a reaction and shape behavior.
The goal of a terrorist is to use violence to create the natural fear of death and dismemberment and use it to change or shape political behavior, control thought and modify speech. Military and operational psychologists are highly trained and experienced. They are experts equipped with the specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities in the art and science of the military and psychology professions that give them a great deal of potential in this unique operational environment."Psychological Warfare and Terrorism"
Operational psychology
Operational psychology is a specialty within the field of psychology that applies behavioral science principles through the use of consultation to enable key decision makers to more effectively understand, develop, target, and influence an individual, group or organization to accomplish tactical, operational, or strategic objectives within the domain of national security or national defense. This is a relatively new sub-discipline that has been employed largely by psychologists and behavioral scientists in military, intelligence, and law enforcement arenas (although other areas of public safety employ psychologists in this capacity as well). Operational psychology is not a health care function, but rather, it focuses on organizational effectiveness in support to the operations associated with national security, national defense, and public safety.
While psychology has been utilized in non-health related fields for many decades, recent years have seen an increased focus on its national security applications. Examples of such applications include the development of counterinsurgency strategy through human profiling, interrogation and detention support, information-psychological operations, and the selection of personnel for specialized military or other public safety activities.Staal, M.A. & Stephenson, J.A. (2013). Operational Psychology Post-9/11: A Decade of Evolution. Military Psychology, 25(2), 93-104. Kennedy, C. H., & Williams, T. J. (2010). Operational psychology ethics: Addressing evolving dilemmas. In C. Kennedy and T. Williams (Eds.), The ethics of operational psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.