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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1379244
This article is part of the Research Topic Public Mental Health in Trauma and War View all 8 articles

Strengthening the Military Stoic Tradition: Enhancing Resilience in Military Service Members and Public Safety Personnel through Functional Disconnection and Reconnection

Provisionally accepted
Megan McElheran Megan McElheran 1*Franklin C. Annis Franklin C. Annis 2Hanna A. Duffy Hanna A. Duffy 3Tessa Chomistek Tessa Chomistek 1
  • 1 Wayfound Mental Health, Calgary, Canada
  • 2 Other, Arlington, United States
  • 3 University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper addresses operational stress injuries (OSIs) among military service members (SM) and public safety personnel (PSP) resulting from prolonged exposure to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs). While psychotherapeutic interventions for post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSIs) are well established, there is a significant gap in evidence-based mental health training programs addressing proactive mitigation of negative outcomes from PPTEs. Building on McElheran and Stelnicki's (2021) Functional Disconnection/Functional Reconnection (FD/FR) model, we introduce FD/FR 2, emphasizing early identification and management of psychological risks. FD/FR 2 discusses the practice of emotional suppression, or "pseudo-stoicism," and its potential negative impact on mental health. By integrating authentic Stoic principles, FD/FR 2 offers practical exercises to enhance resilience and well-being, addressing a critical need in current training approaches for military SM and PSP.

    Keywords: functional disconnection, functional reconnection, military service members, Public safety personnel, First Responders, Mental Health, operational stress injuries, post-traumatic stress injuries from Stoic philosophy Font: Not Italic English (CAN)

    Received: 30 Jan 2024; Accepted: 10 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 McElheran, Annis, Duffy and Chomistek. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Megan McElheran, Wayfound Mental Health, Calgary, Canada

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