With the evolution of war forms and the diversification of military missions, the mental health issues among officers and soldiers have become increasingly prominent, posing challenges to the development of the armed forces. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China specifically emphasized the need to "pay attention to mental health and mental hygiene." Mental health is the foundation of officers' and soldiers' quality and directly relates to the formation of combat effectiveness. Therefore, exploring and improving the path of the military psychological service system to provide officers and soldiers with comprehensive and multi-level psychological support and assistance has become an urgent priority.

I. The Necessity of Improving the Military Psychological Service System

The construction of our military's psychological service system has always been developed along two main lines: the collective mindset line and the mental health line. The former aims to enhance the morale of officers and soldiers, cultivate noble character, and strengthen the sense of identity within the unit. The latter focuses on individual mental health, including psychological assessment, mental health education, psychological counseling, and treatment, with the goal of addressing individual psychological issues and promoting mental well-being.

In recent years, long-term high-intensity training, the uncertainty of military operations, and other stress factors have easily had negative impacts on the psychological well-being of military personnel, increasing the incidence of stress-related injuries and even triggering psychological issues, placing significant pressure on military management. First, the prevalence of psychological problems is on the rise, necessitating professional guidance for prevention. Second, the multifaceted and difficult-to-identify causes of psychological issues require professional expertise for precise identification and management. Third, the deepening severity of psychological problems necessitates professional intervention for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. Mental health issues have become an unavoidable and critical area in ensuring safety and stability across all levels of military operations.

To ensure the continuous enhancement of military combat effectiveness and the comprehensive development of officers and soldiers, it is imperative to establish and improve a new era military psychological service system that focuses on the mental health of officers and soldiers.

II. Current Status of the Construction of the Military Psychological Service System

Entering a new era, the work of psychological services has made significant progress in the areas of system implementation, talent cultivation, funding investment, and the exertion of their role. However, there are still some deficiencies, and the current level of service system construction is unable to meet the practical needs of maintaining the mental health of military personnel.

(1) Shortage of Human Resources

The shortage of professionals has long been a bottleneck restricting the development of psychological services in the military. Apart from hospitals, there are no dedicated positions for psychologists in institutions and grassroots units. The current psychologists are all part of clinical doctors, with limited theoretical foundations and work skills. The majority of grassroots psychological backbone personnel are soldiers or management backbone who are interested in psychology, lacking professional training, practice, and practical experience. These individuals can only conduct simple psychological counseling and testing, mostly lacking the ability to organize group psychological counseling and conduct targeted psychological interventions, resulting in a significant gap between their professional quality and actual needs. The quantity and professional level of psychological service personnel cannot fully meet the psychological needs of military personnel.

(2) Deviations in Soldiers' Awareness of Psychological Services

Some unit leaders and key personnel do not place sufficient emphasis on mental health, often going through the motions and putting on a show. When soldiers develop psychological issues, they are unable to identify them, do not know how to address them, or incorrectly apply methods for dealing with ideological problems, leading to exacerbation of the issues. For soldiers, first, they lack the knowledge to identify psychological problems and do not realize they have issues; second, they want to solve their problems on their own; third, they hold negative attitudes towards psychological assistance, believing it to be ineffective or harmful; fourth, shame remains an issue that cannot be fully overcome, worrying that seeking psychological help will be seen as a sign of weakness and affect their growth and progress. Misunderstandings or neglect of mental health issues within military culture may hinder the effective promotion of psychological services.

(III) Imperfect Psychological Service System

The first issue is the inadequate service network. Psychological counseling and mental health education fall under the political work department, while psychological consultation and therapy are managed by the medical insurance department. The overlapping nature of their work often leads to unclear division of responsibilities, unclear authority, issues of passing the buck, and insufficient collaboration, preventing the formation of a cohesive force that could enhance the effectiveness of mental health services.

Second, the scope of services is not comprehensive. Military families are often referred to as the "strength behind the uniform." On one hand, factors such as geographical isolation, deployment, high-risk missions, and unpredictability impose stress on military families and may lead to psychological issues. On the other hand, family members are the most aware of the individual psychological state of the military personnel. Their understanding is crucial for detecting emotional changes or stress-related injuries caused by stimuli such as new recruits, veterans' retirement, and mission execution. However, the current psychological service system does not include military families, which affects the overall effectiveness of psychological services.

The third issue is the unreasonable content of services. Daily psychological maintenance is limited to distributing questionnaires and holding lectures, with very few individual psychological consultations being conducted. There is a lack of a unified design for what the content of psychological services should be, in what form they should be delivered, and what the intervals between sessions should be. This results in strong randomness and arbitrariness, affecting the continuity and coherence of psychological services.

In summary, a significant portion of unit mental health service construction has only improved hardware facilities, established psychological counseling rooms, and distributed mental health-related equipment, without effectively enhancing the psychological well-being of officers and soldiers or increasing their sense of happiness. The mental health service system remains incomplete, and operational efficiency is low.

III. Pathways to Strengthen the Military Psychological Service System

The construction of the military psychological service system should adhere to the principles of scientific rigor, comprehensiveness, and diversity. Based on psychological theories and practices, it should cover the entire life cycle of military personnel, from prevention and intervention to rehabilitation, ensuring comprehensive psychological health protection. It should integrate the characteristics of different positions and tasks, designing diverse psychological service models and methods. The main focus should be on three dimensions: psychological research and screening, psychological education and training, and psychological intervention and treatment. On this basis, professional human resources should be fully equipped, and the responsibilities among management departments should be clearly defined.

(1) Psychological Research and Screening

1. clinical study

There are many existing mental health treatments, but some have limited efficacy. Military personnel, who are under long-term significant stress, require mental health professionals to maintain close health monitoring and conduct cutting-edge research to safely and scientifically integrate new treatments into current mental health programs. Research topics should include: increasing tolerance for psychotherapy, reducing the willingness to self-terminate treatment; expanding understanding of the psychological basis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); identifying potential biomarkers for PTSD; exploring new treatment modalities and their applicability to military populations, such as virtual reality-based exposure therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and neurofeedback.

2. Mental health monitoring and analysis

The incidence, prevalence, and course of mental health issues in the military should be collected periodically. This information is crucial for guiding research, assisting in resource allocation, and evaluating mental health programs and services. Additionally, psychological autopsies should be conducted after each suicide case to ensure the rapid improvement and optimization of suicide prevention programs and mental health care systems.

(2) Psychological Education and Training

A mental health education and training program should be developed. The aim of military mental health education is to overcome barriers to mental health maintenance, enhance mental health literacy, reduce stigma, increase resilience and well-being among military personnel, and provide individuals with tools to handle stress situations to cope with occupational and other pressures, thereby reducing the risk of mental illness. All military personnel should receive mental health education at different stages of their career and at critical moments before and after military missions. Mental education should address any long-standing negative mental health issues for both military personnel and their families. The content includes: teaching early identification of signs and symptoms of mental illness; the importance of peer and leadership support; barriers to seeking mental health care (including stigma); and available mental health resources. Mental training should teach resilience skills, including meditation, deep breathing, mental rehearsal, goal setting, and self-affirmation techniques, to improve the ability of military personnel and their families to manage stress. Additionally, the program should provide knowledge and coping skills in areas such as suicide intervention, anger management, healthy relationships, and domestic violence.

(III) Psychological Intervention and Treatment

Under the leadership of the political work department, coordinate multi-department cooperation, horizontally to the end and vertically to the edge, establish a high-quality psychological service network and organizational coordination mechanism that integrates psychological seekers, management cadres, and psychological service personnel. At the division and regiment level units, psychological service stations should be established to provide individual or group psychological counseling services, including personal, couple, and family counseling services for military personnel and their families, crisis management, addictive behaviors, and screening services related to military missions. At the corps level units, various implementation plans and programs for maintaining mental health should be provided to meet the diverse mental health needs of military personnel. These maintenance plans and programs should be jointly developed through multidisciplinary team cooperation. At the corps level units, psychological service centers should be established, equipped with professionals such as primary care clinicians, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and psychotherapists. Various diagnostic and treatment services for mental illnesses should be provided to military personnel, including common military mental illnesses such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as assessments and referrals for mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. When inpatient treatment is needed, contact should be made with military psychiatric hospitals for inpatient treatment, and if necessary, coordination and collaboration with local mental health systems should be established. Family support plays a crucial role in the mental health of military personnel, and there is considerable evidence and professional consensus that family involvement in the treatment process can improve treatment outcomes. Therefore, mental health maintenance plans should also include military families, and the mental health system should provide family-centered psychological therapy for military personnel. Around-the-clock free telephone and online counseling services should also be provided to all military personnel and their families, which can have a good effect on suicide prevention, achieving full coverage, full follow-up, and comprehensive protection of psychological services.

IV. Conclusion

The mental health of military personnel is crucial to the generation of military combat effectiveness. The inadequacies in the construction of military psychological services must be given high priority. Only through enhancing resource investment, raising awareness levels, and improving the service system can we better ensure the mental health of military personnel, enhance the quality and effectiveness of military psychological services, improve overall military combat effectiveness, and achieve the goals of national defense construction.