Click to play videoRajouri, J&K: With the high levels of suicide rates in the Indian Armed Forces the Defence Ministry decided to depute counsellors at forward posts and unit levels, to fight the growing stress levels in soldiers.
The battle against stress among the Indian Armed Forces has reached the field with mobile counsellors now deployed near the LoC.
Naib Subedar SS Suhag, is one of 50 junior commissioned officers, who has been trained to deal with stress amongst the armed forces. Now, he is busy conducting a monthly survey at these forward posts — it’s a 15-point questionnaire to identify vulnerable soldiers.
Suhag explains, "We try to find out if the person is always tensed, and if they are then it means they have some sort of a psychological problem — then we try to tackle the problem."
The decision to depute counsellors at forward posts came from the Defence Ministry after witnessing the alarming high levels of suicides and fragging. Of the 50 JCOs trained so far, 35 have been deployed in the Northern Command, and over 15 in the Western Command.
Lt Col D Bhatnagar who is with the Army Medical Core says, "The psychological JCO counsellors have been trained at Army Medical Core level, as well as few from the infantry unit. The unit persons called mental health mentors have also been taken from units and have been trained."
Surveys in the Army have attributed stress amongst the forces mainly to domestic problems and working in counter insurgency operations is an add-on factor.
"The habitat in which these soldiers reside is not as it would have been in a proper lay out situation, and then the job is stressful as working continuously for identifying an invisible enemy adds to the stress," adds Bhatnagar.
The Armed Forces saw one of the highest suicides rates from 2003-2006. On an average, 90 deaths were reported every year, however the numbers did come down by 50 % in 2007-2008.
The enemy of stress may be down for now, but is not out.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
