Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center, Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2201 Stallings-Evans Sports Medicine Center, Campus Box 8700, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
Human Movement Science Curriculum, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bondurant Hall, Campus Box 7120, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
Mil Med. 2020 Dec 30;185(11-12):e1946-e1953. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usaa167.
Special Operations Forces (SOF) combat arms and combat support Soldiers are at risk for impaired mental health, such as mood- and stress-related disorders, due to operational and training demands. Additionally, these individuals experience high risk for sustaining mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). These mTBIs have also been linked to negative psychological outcomes, such as anxiety and depressive symptoms. Studying mental illnesses and their related symptoms alone does not fully address mental health, which may be better understood by 2 separate but overlapping continua measuring both mental illness and subjective well-being (ie, emotional, psychological, and social well-being). Due to the lack of research in this area, current mental health symptoms in active SOF combat Soldiers in relation to mTBI warrants investigation.
In this study, 113 SOF combat and combat support Soldiers completed self-report psychological and mTBI history measures during an in-person laboratory setting. These psychometric measures included (1) psychological distress (Brief Symptom Inventory 18), (2) anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item), (3) posttraumatic stress (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5), (4) somatization (Patient Health Questionnaire-15), and (5) subjective well-being (Mental Health Continuum Short Form).
On average, SOF combat Soldiers endorsed moderate well-being and low psychological distress, somatization, posttraumatic stress, and anxiety. Most SOF combat Soldiers had sustained 1 or more mTBI. We observed mTBI history had significant effects on each dependent variable in the expected directions. History of more mTBIs, controlling for age, was associated with lower subjective well-being as well as higher psychological distress, somatization, posttraumatic stress, and anxiety symptoms.
Although SOF combat Soldiers reported relatively adaptive mental health symptoms across participants, there was considerable variance in the measures reported. Some of the variance in mental health symptoms was accounted for by mTBI history while controlling for age, with reporting higher numbers of lifetime mTBIs and older age being associated with worse mental health symptoms. Longitudinal investigations into these associations and their impact on Soldier performance is warranted.
由于作战和训练需求，特种作战部队（SOF）的战斗人员和战斗支援人员存在心理健康受损的风险，例如情绪和压力相关障碍。此外，这些个体遭受轻度创伤性脑损伤（mTBI）的风险很高。这些 mTBI 也与焦虑和抑郁症状等负面心理后果有关。仅研究精神疾病及其相关症状并不能完全解决心理健康问题，通过衡量精神疾病和主观幸福感（即情感、心理和社会幸福感）的两个独立但重叠的连续体，可以更好地理解心理健康问题。由于该领域缺乏研究，目前活跃的 SOF 战斗士兵的 mTBI 相关精神健康症状值得研究。
在这项研究中，113 名 SOF 战斗人员和战斗支援人员在面对面的实验室环境中完成了自我报告的心理和 mTBI 病史测量。这些心理计量学测量包括：（1）心理困扰（Brief Symptom Inventory 18），（2）焦虑（广泛性焦虑障碍 7 项），（3）创伤后应激（DSM-5 创伤后应激障碍检查表），（4）躯体化（患者健康问卷-15），（5）主观幸福感（心理健康连续体简短形式）。
平均而言，SOF 战斗人员的幸福感适中，心理困扰、躯体化、创伤后应激和焦虑程度较低。大多数 SOF 战斗人员都曾遭受过 1 次或多次 mTBI。我们观察到，mTBI 病史对每个因变量都有预期的显著影响。在控制年龄的情况下，mTBI 病史越多，与主观幸福感降低以及心理困扰、躯体化、创伤后应激和焦虑症状升高有关。
尽管 SOF 战斗人员在所有参与者中报告的心理健康症状相对适应，但在报告的测量结果中存在相当大的差异。心理健康症状的一些差异可以通过 mTBI 病史来解释，同时控制年龄因素，报告更多次数的终生 mTBI 和年龄较大与更差的心理健康症状有关。需要对这些关联及其对士兵表现的影响进行纵向研究。
