The Foreign Service Journal, December 2006

Without help, I do not think I would have recovered from PTSD — and, based on my research, my mental and, eventually, physical health prob- ably would have become worse over time. A significant number of Foreign Service personnel and family mem- bers have already experienced events that place them at high risk for PTSD. Given the number of people who now serve in dangerous posts and the high risk of being targeted by terrorists, the number will continue to grow over the next few years. For those who have the condition, un- treated symptoms can cause medical problems, destroy families and side- line careers. If the Foreign Service does not start talking about PTSD — educat- ing FSOs about the disorder and its impact on clearances — I fear we will unnecessarily lose some of our most effective members. D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 55 is a condition present that may affect judgment, reliability or stability. As dictated by law, DS is never allowed access to confidential medical infor- mation. During this process, only the final MED recommendation is com- municated to DS. A mental health condition that does not impact an employee’s judgment, reliability or sta- bility will not have an adverse impact on a security clearance review.” At Mental Health Services, we recently studied the impact of mental health issues on security clearance decisions. Of 201 employees referred by DS as part of their security clear- ance evaluation due to a mental health issue, only 9 percent received an ad- verse recommendation from our ex- perts. Most of the adverse determina- tions were related to psychosis, un- treated alcoholism or some other severe psychiatric disorder affecting judgment, reliability or stability. The Bottom Line Although employees often worry about the effect of receiving counsel- ing for psychological issues resulting from service in a war zone, our study showed that the impact on security clearance is negligible and receiving treatment is a mitigating factor. Dur- ing the past three years, our mental health clearance group is aware of only one adverse recommendation involving a person with PTSD symp- toms; that case involved psychotic symptoms and issues of safety. The bottom line is this: employees suffering from mental disorders should seek treatment, both because it is likely to ameliorate the condition and it will make a favorable assess- ment by our mental health experts more likely. PTSD Resources Online Veterans Affairs’ National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ PTSD Alliance http://www.ptsdalliance.org/ National Institute of Mental Health http://www.nimh.nih.gov/ publicat/reliving.cfm Facts for Health http://www.ptsd.factsforhealth.org/ who/ Sidran Institute: Traumatic Stress Education and Advocacy http://www.sidran.org/index.html