The Population of Military Veterans
with Mental Health Disorders
Karli Basakos, Chloe Heenan, Lauren Sitler, Whitney Zito
April 16, 2019
Definition: Military Veterans
Under Federal Law, Military Veterans are a population of
people that served in the active military, naval, or air service
of the United States and that were discharged or released
under conditions other than dishonorable
(U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs [VA], 2015).
Demographics of Military Veterans
As of September 2018, there are about 19,600,000 U.S.
military veterans.
(VA, 2018).
Demographics: Race of Military
Veterans
✘ Almost 14.8 million of the total veterans are white alone,
not Hispanic or Latino
✘ 2.5 million military veterans are African American
✘ 1.4 million are Hispanic/Latino
(VA, 2018)
Demographics: Age of Military
Veterans
✘ 2.8 million are 80 years old
and older
✘ 4.3 million are 70-80 years old
✘ 3.8 million are 60-70 years old
✘ 3.1 million are 50-60 years old
✘ About 1 million are in their
late 30s
(VA, 2018)
Demographics: Gender of Military
Veterans
As of September 2018, there are 1.9 million female military
veterans and almost 17.7 million male military veterans
(VA, 2018).
Social Determinants of Health:
Education
Overall, veterans
tend to have a
higher or
comparable rate of
college education
compared to
non-veterans
(VA, 2017).
Social Determinants of Health:
Economic Stability
There are less
veterans in
poverty compared
to non-
veterans.
(VA, 2017).
Health Disparity of Military Veterans
✘ 1 in 3 veterans (or 41%) are diagnosed with at least one mental
health disorder
○ Leads to development of substance use disorder (SUD)
○ Mental health disorders in combination with SUDs
significantly increase the risk of suicide
○ Every day, 22 veterans commit suicide
(Olenick, Flowers & Diaz, 2015)
✘ Comparison to non-veterans
○ 1 in 5 non-veteran are diagnosed with at least one mental
health disorder ( or 18.5%)
(National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2019)
Health Care Disparity of Military Veterans
✘ Lack of access to mental health
services leads to high suicide rates
○ Only ⅓ of veterans are using
VA Health System
○ Lack of crisis intervention
services
○ Mental health coverage not
included in health insurance
policies
(Hester, 2017)
Nursing Intervention for Military Veterans
✘ Screening
✘ Primary care mental health health screenings by
nurses should be the standard
✘ Lack of mental health care for veterans is a public
health issue as well as a patient safety issue – nurses
are on the front line in regards to ensuring mental
wellbeing is addressed at every wellness check
✘ Early identification and treatment will lead the way in
reducing veteran suicide rates
(Harrigan, 2018)
References
Brenner, L. A., Hoisington, A. J., Stearns-Yoder, K. A., Stamper, C. E., Heinze, J. D., Postolache, T. T., Hadidi, D.
A., Hoffmire, C. A., Stanislawski, M. A., Lowry, C. A. (2018). Military-related exposures, social determinants of health,
and dysbiosis: The United States-Veteran Microbiome Project (US-VMP). Frontiers in Cellular and Infection
Microbiology, 8(400), 1-9. doi:10.3389/fcimb.2018.00400
Hestwe, R. D. (2017). Lack of access to mental health services contributing to the high suicide rates among veterans.
International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 11(47), 1-4. doi:10.1186/s13033-017-0154-2
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (2019). Mental health by the numbers. Retrieved from
https://nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers
Olenick, M., Flowers, M., Diaz, V. (2015) US veterans and their unique issues: Enhancing healthcare professional awareness.
Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 6, 635-639. doi:10.2147/AMEP.S89479
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). (2018). Veteran population. Retrieved from
https://www.va.gov/vetdata/veteran_population.asp
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). (2017). Profile of veterans [PDF document]. Retrieved from
https://www.va.gov/vetdata/docs/SpecialReports/Profile_of_Veterans_2017.pdf
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). (2015) Chapter 6: Determining veteran status and eligibility for benefits [Word
document]. Retrieved from https://www.benefits.va.gov/WARMS/docs/admin21/m21_1/.../M21-1III_ii_6.docx
