Politics Chaplains, Bigoted and Otherwise, in Iraq
This article in the Washington Post Magazine this weekend was very readable, and very odd.
The good stuff (i.e., the horrifying stuff) is buried pretty deep, so read all the way through.
Among the facts which were new to me: If a serviceperson uses a chaplain for psychological counseling, that exchange is confidential. If a serviceperson uses a psychologist for the same reason, that exchange is not confidential: “Anything soldiers confess to social workers, psychologists or doctors becomes part of their service records and can be accessed by their military superiors.” Perhaps someone better versed in the law can tell me: What about this arrangement does not constitute an unconstitutional establishment of religion? If soldiers want confidential counseling, there is no secular option.
There’s also the Southern Baptist chaplain who’s profiled: He’s so uptight about “the enhancement of any religion outside Christianity” that he comes very close to refusing orders to clean up the grounds of a mosque on his base. I don’t think “bigot” is too strong a word.
Aside from the blatently religion issue here, this is disturbing. Most Americans can go to a therapist, psychologist, or other mental health professional with full confidetiality and without fear that their employer will find out anything about their visit.
The only time a therapist can breach the patient-doctor relationship of confidenitality is if the person is a harm to themselves or others.
The fact that military service personnel can find out this information is completely wrong and only serves to establish yet another barrier to accessing mental health services.
Mental health conditions like PTSD, depression, suicide, anxiety, etc. seem to be on the rise among military service personnel. Allowing their superiors to find out why they sought access to counseling services will only restrict a badly needed service for military personnel.