Dispatches from the editor: military psychology, a force multiplier

• Published in: BMJ military health 2019-04, Vol.165 (2), p.63-64
• Main Authors: McCauley, Mathew, Breeze, J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Armed forces; Defense; Human performance; Military health care; Psychologists; Psychology; Training; Trauma
• ISSN: 0035-8665; 2633-3767; 2052-0468; 2633-3775
• DOI: 10.1136/jramc-2018-001110

The understanding and promotion of human behaviour is a core priority within the study, use and promulgation of armed force.1 Military psychology reflects that application of psychological science towards the optimisation of personnel and systems.2 The utilisation of this profession is intrinsic to the through-life and deployment cycle of all tri-service personnel, including selection and recruitment, training and resiliency, well-being and healthcare, fitness and suitability for service determinations, human factors effectiveness, leadership and command success, and the generation of scientific data across all such domains.3 The Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps (JRAMC) promotes both current expertise and the emerging advances within military healthcare. Evolving deployment roles, shifting rules of engagement and the introduction of new weapon systems have also required a greater understanding of the biological, psychological and social consequences of such factors on service members and their ability to conduct operations, along with the attainment of optimum responses from command. [...]the current dynamic and multidisciplinary military mental healthcare service model of proximity, immediacy, expectancy and simplicity can be associated with the groundbreaking work of Dr Myers.8 This is further reflected, for example, in the evolving development and use of psychometric measures throughout the last century to ascertain the psychological suitability and fitness of personnel for military service, leadership appointments, pilot training and special operations duties.9 Many of these clinical and organisational advances within military psychology have since been disseminated into civilian environments over recent decades, including input to psychological and pharmacological practices across the NHS, forensic facilities, civilian aviation and spaceflight contexts, and also among austere and extreme human performance settings.