Researcher offers communication tips for combating military mental health stigma

LAWRENCE — Films like 1979 Best Picture winner “The Deer Hunter” are heralded for their harrowing portrayal of post-traumatic stress disorder among U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War.

But such films also played a significant role in informing stigma about military veterans’ mental health that persists. Rikki Roscoe, assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas, is researching ways to address the effects of that stigma in the ways that the public talks about it.

Her chapter titled “An Examination of the Multifaceted Mental Health Stigma Surrounding United States Military Veterans" was included in the new book “Mental Health Communication for Underserved Populations” (Bloomsbury).

“I've studied stigma and how it can impact health in a variety of contexts, including mental illness among military veterans,” Roscoe said. “This book chapter is kind of a culmination, or an overview, of the work that I've done in that space. Stigma is a fascinating concept. It can have deeply harmful impact on people, and it's something that I think can happen so subtly that we don't even realize it. I think a lot of us have experienced stigma or have been the stigmatizer in one way or another.”

The chapter elucidates the double bind of stigma in which soldiers and vets facing mental health challenges too often find themselves: fear of appearing weak to their brothers and sisters in arms and thus losing career opportunities, and fear of being perceived as a threat by civilians.

The civilian-military divide is exacerbated, Roscoe wrote, by the often wholly separate life experiences of these two groups.

Much of the chapter is concerned with defining what constitutes stigma messages:

• Nonverbal markers or content used to identify members of a stigmatized group.
• Group labels used by stigmatizers to refer to the stigmatized group.
• Etiology cues that imply responsibility or blame for attaining or maintaining the stigma.
• Peril cues that link a group to social or physical danger.

Roscoe also discusses theories like “stigma management communication,” outlining typical coping strategies that, in the context of veterans’ mental health, may include hiding mental health challenges to avoid stigma, accepting or internalizing mental health stigma, or making jokes about mental health to ease tensions.

It concludes with recommendations that seem to help — for vets, avoiding self-stigma by relying on peer support groups, and for the public, the notion of “halo communication ... to disseminate prosocial messages about stigmatized groups ... one possible way in which media can transmit perceptions of grace and acceptance rather than disgrace and disqualification associated with stigma communication.”

“There might be positive characteristics associated with the veteran identity that we can put forth," Roscoe said. “Rather than a stereotypical media representation showing them as being out of control, maybe we show how veterans have really useful, transferable skills that protect civilians’ rights and enhance our society. So halo communication is kind of taking those stigma message cues and flipping them into a positive light instead of consistently portraying veterans as being dangerous.”

Roscoe’s work reflects her life experience as the sibling of an Iraq War veteran.

“I find it incredibly upsetting that veterans give so much and then don't have the resources they need or face things like mental health stigma,” she said. “This is one way for me to try to improve understandings of this issue and hopefully improve the issue in certain ways. So that's really what led me to do this work.”