Soldiers Nix Tele-Shrinks

While top Army commanders have embraced tele-behavioral health technology as a way to connect shrinks and soldiers based in combat outposts, the troops don't think much of the idea.

In an appendix to its Mental Health Assessment Team report released yesterday, the Army said both troops and heath care providers reported difficulty in establishing the kind of personal connection needed for effective treatment over a video teleconferencing system already deployed in Afghanistan.

When asked about the system, one soldier said, "Why can't the dude [health care provider] show up where I'm at?" and then used an expletive to drive home his thoughts on tele-behavioral health.