Abstract
Military psychology is a specialized branch of psychology that plays a critical role in national defense through the application and advancement of psychological study and practice. Military psychologists engage in a variety of services, providing direct clinical care, advising military commands, consulting, teaching, and conducting research activities. They perform their roles in a multitude of settings, providing psychological services to ten million beneficiaries, working with operational forces, consulting with military commands/leaders, and providing expertise in assessment as well as program development, implementation, and sustainment. Military psychologists can be found in both medical treatment facilities and embedded within operational communities. In addition to performing their clinical duties, having psychologists in embedded roles decreases negative stigma about seeking mental health treatment and encourages early help seeking. Written by the lead clinical psychologists in the US Army, Navy, and Air Force, this chapter describes how each military branch utilizes psychologists to enhance the performance of service members, commands, and the military as a whole.
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Johnston, S.L., Robinson, C., Earles, J.E., Via, J., Delaney, E.M. (2017). State of Psychology in the US Armed Forces. In: Bowles, S., Bartone, P. (eds) Handbook of Military Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66192-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66192-6_1
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