The mental health status of women in the Navy and Marine Corps: Preliminary findings from the perceptions of wellness and readiness assessment

The 1995 Perceptions of Wellness and Readiness Assessment was designed to p rovide baseline health and risk-factor information on the physical and ment al health status of women in the U.S, Navy and Marine Corps and to make com parisons both within military subpopulations and with civilian populations. A population-based, multi-stage, cluster sample of 782 active duty Navy an d Marine Corps women and men were administered a structured computerized te lephone interview to make Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-III-R psychiatr ic diagnoses. Estimates were 40 and 21% for overall lifetime and 1-year pre valence of psychiatric disorders, respectively. Women had about five times the risk of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder than men and about twice the risk of a major depressive episode. Of all personnel meeting diag nostic criteria for an active mental disorder, only 19% sought mental healt h cafe in the last year. Women generally sought treatment more readily than men.