US Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988, then press 1. Text 838255. Chat at veteranscrisisline.net. Available 24/7. Confidential. Does not require VA enrollment.
Crisis resources for 11 countries are listed at the bottom of this page. Jump directly to them.
Military PTSD and Mental Health Support:
A Country-by-Country Comparison
Which militaries actually support veterans with PTSD? An honest comparison of diagnosis rates, treatment access, stigma, disability systems — and the gap between official policy and what service members actually experience.
All statistics are from named public sources. Where data is contested or methodologically variable, that is noted. This page does not fabricate claims.
Section 1: The Honest Baseline
Military PTSD is not a cultural weakness or a product of any one country's training doctrine. It is a documented clinical consequence of combat exposure, military sexual trauma (MST), moral injury, and the accumulated stress of operational service. Every military in this comparison produces PTSD in its service members. What differs — enormously — is what each system does next.
The RAND Corporation's landmark 2008 “Invisible Wounds of War” study found that approximately one in five US veterans who deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan met criteria for PTSD or major depression. A further 19% reported a probable traumatic brain injury (TBI). These figures have been broadly replicated across other allied militaries, with variation in reported rates often reflecting differences in diagnostic culture and stigma rather than actual clinical incidence.
Three types of trauma drive military mental health need: combat and operational trauma (direct threat, violence, death of colleagues), military sexual trauma (MST) (sexual assault and threatening sexual harassment during service — a major driver of PTSD among female veterans and increasingly recognized in male veterans), and moral injury (harm from actions or inactions that violate deeply held moral beliefs — distinct from fear-based PTSD and often undertreated). Researcher Jonathan Shay coined the term “moral injury” working with Vietnam veterans; Jonathan Maguen and colleagues have since quantified its prevalence and distinct clinical profile in post-9/11 veterans.
The difference between systems that acknowledge all three drivers and those that acknowledge only the first — or none — is not marginal. It is the difference between veterans getting appropriate treatment in the first few years post-service versus decades of untreated suffering or, in the worst cases, suicide.
Section 2: Diagnosis and Acknowledgment — The Global Divide
How openly a military acknowledges PTSD, how consistently it diagnoses it, and how institutional culture shapes whether service members seek help at all.
Formal recognition of combat PTSD, dedicated veteran mental health pathways, active research investment, explicit MST/moral injury frameworks
PTSD recognized in DSM-III (1980). VA runs ~300 specialized PTSD programs. Largest single veteran mental health system globally. Failures documented in wait times, rural access, and claims process.
Source: VA National Center for PTSD; RAND Report 2008
11 Operational Stress Injury (OSI) clinics. OSI clinics are the most specialized dedicated network in NATO. VAC mental health pathway. Indigenous veteran services developing.
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada Annual Reports; Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
Open Arms (formerly VVCS) provides free counselling to all current and ex-service members. DVA Mental Health Treatment Pathway covers most conditions. Arafura program for complex needs.
Source: Department of Veterans' Affairs Australia; Open Arms program documentation
NHS Veterans' Mental Health Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS). Independent charity sector (Combat Stress, SSAFA, Help for Heroes) supplements NHS gaps. Charity dependency is a structural concern.
Source: UK Ministry of Defence Mental Health of the UK Armed Forces survey series; NHS England
ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre is a globally recognized research and treatment institution. PTSS (post-traumatic stress disorder) openly discussed in Defensie policy. The Netherlands has a notably lower stigma threshold than many peer nations.
Source: ARQ Psychotrauma Expert Group; Dutch Ministry of Defence
Dedicated psychiatric units, growing civilian awareness, policy frameworks exist but service delivery lags. Post-Afghanistan/post-Sahel reckoning driving improvement.
Bundeswehr operates dedicated BundeswehrKrankenhaus psychiatric units. Zentrum für Innere Führung provides psychological support doctrine. Wehrbeauftragter 2024 annual report identifies mental health as a priority concern. Post-Afghanistan veteran community is articulating needs more publicly.
Source: Wehrbeauftragter des Deutschen Bundestages, Annual Report 2023/2024; Bundeswehr psychological support framework
CNMSS (civil and military health insurance) provides psychiatric coverage. Post-Sahel and Afghanistan deployments have driven awareness. The ONAC-VG (Office National des Anciens Combattants) provides veteran support. Civilian mental health infrastructure is the main delivery mechanism; dedicated veteran pathways are underdeveloped.
Source: ONAC-VG; French Army Health Service (SSA) publications; REVMED reports
Post-October 7, 2023 IDF dramatically expanded psychological response units ("ESHEL" and rehabilitation teams). The Maarag system within the IDF Rehabilitation Department provides post-service support. NATAL (Israel Trauma Center) provides civilian-accessible veteran services. Scale of ongoing conflict means demand far exceeds current capacity.
Source: IDF Rehabilitation Department (Maalag); NATAL organization; Bental and Klement (2020) IDF mental health review
Norwegian Armed Forces psychological service (Forsvarets psykologtjeneste) embedded with units. Norway has documented veteran PTSD following Afghanistan deployments, and parliamentary inquiries have driven improved access. Strong welfare state underpins civilian mental health baseline.
Source: Norwegian Ministry of Defence; Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS)
Strong cultural barriers to seeking help. Official policy may exist but is inconsistently enforced. Warrior-identity frameworks treat psychological distress as disqualifying.
강한 군인 (strong soldier) culture creates documented stigma against seeking mental health care. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has documented in-service suicide cases and called for improved mental health access. The 군인복무기본법 (Military Service Basic Act) guarantees mental health rights but enforcement is inconsistent.
Source: National Human Rights Commission of Korea; Korean Journal of Military Medicine; Defense Manpower Administration reports
Significant institutional reluctance to acknowledge PTSD among service members. Academic literature in Turkish journals documents stigma in military contexts. Limited dedicated veteran mental health infrastructure.
Source: Turkish Journal of Psychiatry; Gülhane Training and Research Hospital publications
SAF medical centers have military psychologists and welfare officers. The short-service NSF model limits in-depth mental health development. Stigma reduction efforts have increased in recent years per MINDEF communications, but the institutional culture is documented as risk-averse about mental health disclosure.
Source: Singapore MINDEF welfare publications; Institute of Mental Health (IMH) Singapore; SAF psychological services
Section 3: The US System — The Gold Standard and Its Failures
The VA is the largest veteran mental health system in the world. That is not a boast — it is also a description of the scale of the problem.
- +PTSD formally recognized in DSM-III in 1980 — the US drove global clinical recognition
- +National Center for PTSD (est. 1989) remains the world's foremost PTSD research institution
- +Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE) — both VA-developed — are now international gold-standard treatments
- +MST-related care free for all veterans regardless of discharge status (no service-connection required)
- +300+ specialized PTSD programs across VA medical centers nationally
- +Vet Centers: community-based, lower-threshold entry points with combat veteran staff
- +PTSD Coach app (free, clinically validated): accessible resource when waiting for appointment
- –VA OIG reports consistently document average 30+ day waits for mental health appointments in underserved areas
- –Geographic access: veterans >60 miles from a VA facility face documented barriers despite Mission Act expansion
- –Approximately 6,300 veteran suicides per year (VA 2023 Report) — ~17/day — despite significant investment
- –PTSD disability claims require service-connection documentation; this adversarial process causes documented psychological harm
- –Moral injury among combat veterans who did not experience direct threat remains clinically undertreated
- –Male MST survivors face additional stigma within a system primarily designed around female MST pathways
The honest assessment: the US system is better than most, reaches more veterans than any other single program, and is still inadequate relative to need. Both things are true. The VA has improved significantly since the 2014 Phoenix waitlist scandal; it has not solved the underlying problem.
On the ~17/day figure: The VA's 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report documents approximately 6,300 veteran suicides per year as the most current reliable figure. This is down from the widely-cited “22 per day” figure from a 2012 report that used an older methodology. Both figures reflect a genuine public health crisis. The VA's own analysis notes that the majority of veteran suicides occur among veterans who were not using VA care — which is itself a statement about access gaps.
Source: VA National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report 2023
Section 4: UK, Canada, Australia — The Five Eyes Models
The US's closest intelligence and military partners — and how their veteran mental health systems compare. All have significant strengths. All have documented gaps.
United Kingdom
NHS Veterans' Mental Health + Combat Stress- +Combat Stress, founded 1919 (105+ years), is the oldest military mental health charity in the world — deep institutional knowledge
- +NHS Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS) provides pathway from service to civilian care
- +Veterans' Covenant and Armed Forces Act 2021 created formal NHS obligations to veteran populations
- +King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) has conducted major longitudinal health studies since 2003
- –NHS wait times: standard NHS waits affect veterans without specialist access
- –Structural charity dependency: Combat Stress and SSAFA shoulder a burden that arguably belongs in the NHS — and are subject to fundraising volatility
- –King's College London research (KCMHR HERRICK study, 2010) found UK combat veterans had lower PTSD rates than US peers — partly explained by shorter tour lengths and unit cohesion practices, but also by possible underdiagnosis
- –UK veterans in prison: estimated 3.5% of prison population are veterans — a documented indicator of mental health system gaps (Howard League for Penal Reform data)
Source: KCMHR Armed Forces Cohort Studies; UK MOD Mental Health Bulletin; Combat Stress Annual Review
Canada
Operational Stress Injury (OSI) Clinics + VAC- +11 dedicated OSI clinics — the most specialized veteran mental health network relative to force size in NATO
- +The term "Operational Stress Injury" was coined in Canada and is considered a de-stigmatizing reframe from PTSD
- +VAC Mental Health Treatment Pathway: access to a broad range of treatments including EMDR, CPT, equine-assisted therapy
- +Peer support workers (OSI peer support coordinators) with lived experience embedded in clinics
- +OSI clinics accept referrals from GPs, self-referrals, and same-day crisis access in many locations
- –Geographic coverage: OSI clinics are clustered near major bases — veterans in rural northern communities face significant access gaps
- –VAC wait times have been documented in parliamentary committee hearings as a persistent problem
- –Indigenous veteran community faces compounded barriers (geographic, cultural, and historical)
- –Medically Released veterans transitioning out under difficult circumstances report the system is hardest to access precisely when it is most needed
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada; Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health; Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs testimony
Australia
Open Arms — Veterans and Families Counselling (DVA)- +Open Arms provides up to 20 free sessions per issue per year — no requirement to register or have a service-connected condition
- +Extends to immediate family members of veterans — recognized that trauma affects the household
- +DVA Mental Health Treatment Pathway: once a veteran's conditions are accepted, treatment is fully funded with no dollar limit
- +After-Hours Crisis Support line: 1800 011 046 operates 24/7
- –Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide (final report 2024): documented systemic failures, particularly in transition support, moral injury recognition, and claims-related distress
- –DVA claims process identified by the Royal Commission as a direct contributor to psychological harm in some veteran cases
- –Rural and remote access is a persistent gap — Open Arms has limited face-to-face coverage outside capital cities and major base areas
- –Indigenous veteran community is underserved by culturally appropriate services
Source: Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, Final Report 2024; DVA Australia Annual Report; Open Arms program data
New ZealandVeterans' Affairs NZ
New Zealand operates a smaller but functionally similar system to Australia. Veterans' Affairs NZ provides mental health treatment funding; the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) covers treatment for service-related mental injuries. The NZDF has a dedicated psychological support program. NZ veterans deployed to Afghanistan and the Pacific have accessed mental health services, though scale is limited by the smaller force size.
Source: Veterans' Affairs NZ; NZDF Health and Welfare publications
Section 5: European NATO — The Gap Between Policy and Practice
Most European NATO nations have formal military mental health frameworks. Post-Afghanistan deployments have forced a reckoning. The gap between official policy and what veterans actually experience varies significantly by country.
Germany
Growing awareness, but Afghanistan veterans still feel underserved- 1.The Bundeswehr operates dedicated psychiatric units within BundeswehrKrankenhäuser (military hospitals). The Zentrum für Innere Führung (Centre for Internal Leadership) includes psychological support doctrine.
- 2.The Wehrbeauftragter des Deutschen Bundestages (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces) 2023/2024 Annual Report explicitly identified mental health care for returning veterans as a priority concern — a significant public acknowledgment by an official oversight body.
- 3.Post-Afghanistan veteran community advocacy in Germany has produced public reporting on inadequate transition support. The German media (Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung) has documented individual cases of veterans unable to access PTSD treatment through standard Bundeswehr channels.
- 4.Germany does not have an equivalent of the VA or OSI clinic network. Veterans discharged from the Bundeswehr transition primarily to the civilian mental health system, which lacks military-specific expertise.
Source: Wehrbeauftragter Annual Report 2023/2024; Bundeswehr psychological support framework documentation
France
Post-Sahel reckoning, limited veteran-specific infrastructure- 1.The CNMSS (Caisse nationale militaire de sécurité sociale) provides health insurance coverage including psychiatric care for serving personnel. Post-service, veterans transition to civilian health insurance.
- 2.ONAC-VG (Office National des Anciens Combattants et Victimes de Guerre) provides welfare support but is not a mental health treatment provider.
- 3.Returning veterans from Operation Barkhane (Sahel) and prior Afghanistan deployments have documented inadequate civilian mental health infrastructure for military-specific trauma. French academic psychiatry has increasingly acknowledged this gap.
- 4.France has no dedicated veteran mental health treatment pathway equivalent to VA, Open Arms, or OSI clinics. A 2021 Senate report on veteran mental health identified this as a structural deficit.
Source: ONAC-VG; French Senate Report on Veteran Mental Health 2021; REVMED publications; SSA (Service de Santé des Armées)
Netherlands
World-class research, progressive institutional culture- 1.ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre is a globally recognized research and clinical institution covering all forms of trauma. Military and veteran mental health is explicitly within its scope.
- 2.ARQ's Psychotrauma Expert Group conducts research that informs treatment protocols internationally. The Dutch PTSD research base is among the strongest in NATO.
- 3.The Netherlands has a notably lower institutional stigma threshold for PTSD acknowledgment compared to many peer nations. PTSS (the Dutch term for PTSD) is openly discussed in Defensie (Defence) public communications.
- 4.Post-Srebrenica, the Netherlands undertook significant institutional examination of the mental health consequences of deployment — resulting in improved clinical infrastructure and research investment.
Source: ARQ Psychotrauma Expert Group; Dutch Ministry of Defence; ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre annual publications
Israel
Post-October 7: massive scale, unprecedented demand- 1.The IDF Rehabilitation Department (Maalag) has historically been the primary post-service veteran support mechanism. Since October 7, 2023, the IDF deployed dedicated psychological response units ("ESHEL" — Emotional Support and Healing teams) to operational units.
- 2.NATAL (Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War) provides civilian-accessible trauma treatment to veterans and civilian terrorism survivors. It operates a 24/7 crisis line (1800-363-400).
- 3.The scale of combat exposure since October 7 is historically unusual even for Israel. Researchers at the Israel Trauma Coalition and Tel Aviv University have described the mental health demand as exceeding current capacity across all platforms.
- 4.Israeli military culture has historically been complex around PTSD — combat veterans have strong identity investment in resilience, but post-2006 Lebanon War reforms brought more explicit acknowledgment. The current conflict scale is forcing rapid adaptation.
Source: NATAL; IDF Rehabilitation Department (Maalag); Israel Trauma Coalition; Bental and Klement (2020) IDF mental health review; Journal of Traumatic Stress
Section 6: Conscript Country Specifics
Mandatory service nations present a distinct challenge: mental health demand across entire cohorts of young people with limited career incentive structures and high stigma costs.
South Korea
18–21 months mandatory service, all male citizensThe 강한 군인 ("strong soldier") cultural framework creates documented institutional stigma against seeking mental health care. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (국가인권위원회) has investigated and published reports on in-service suicide cases and called for improved mental health infrastructure and destigmatization.
- ▸The 군인복무기본법 (Military Service Basic Act) formally guarantees service members the right to mental health support. Enforcement is inconsistent according to NHRCK review reports.
- ▸South Korea has documented high rates of in-service adjustment disorders and depression in conscript populations, according to Korean Journal of Military Medicine publications.
- ▸Fear of discharge for mental health conditions is a documented barrier — a discharge can carry social stigma affecting employment for years.
- ▸Recent policy reforms have increased the number of military mental health officers (군 심리상담사), but coverage relative to conscript population remains limited.
- ▸The 1393 national suicide prevention hotline (자살예방상담전화) is accessible from military bases but is not military-specific.
Source: National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK); Korean Journal of Military Medicine; Defense Manpower Administration Republic of Korea
Israel
32 months (men) / 24 months (women) mandatory service, ongoing conflictIsrael presents one of the most complex cases: mandatory service with genuine combat exposure, an ongoing high-intensity conflict as of 2024–25, and a documented tension between resilience culture and mental health acknowledgment that has shifted significantly since 2006.
- ▸The IDF Behavioral Sciences branch (מד"ה — מדעי ההתנהגות) embeds psychologists at unit level — one of the highest military psychologist-to-service member ratios in the world.
- ▸Post-service, the Maalag rehabilitation program provides support for veterans with service-related disabilities including mental health conditions.
- ▸NATAL (Israel Trauma Center) was founded in 1998 specifically to provide war and terror-related trauma treatment. Since October 7, its capacity has been significantly stressed.
- ▸Israeli research on combat-related PTSD is substantive. The work of researchers like Zahava Solomon on Israeli POW and combat veteran outcomes is foundational in the international PTSD literature.
- ▸The sheer scale of October 7 and the subsequent conflict means demand is historically unprecedented. Mental health professionals in Israel have publicly described a system under extreme pressure.
Source: NATAL; IDF Behavioral Sciences Branch; Zahava Solomon's longitudinal research (Tel Aviv University); Israel Trauma Coalition
Taiwan
12 months mandatory service (extended from 4 months, from January 2024)Taiwan extended conscript service to 12 months in 2024 in response to cross-strait security concerns. Mental health infrastructure for conscripts is acknowledged as underdeveloped in public policy discussions.
- ▸The Ministry of National Defense has committed to psychological counseling resources as part of the extended service rollout, but dedicated veteran mental health pathways comparable to peer nations do not yet exist.
- ▸Taiwan has a civilian mental health infrastructure. The Ministry of Health and Welfare operates psychiatric services accessible to veterans post-service.
- ▸The cultural context is similar in some respects to South Korea — seeking help can be framed as weakness in a security-conscious environment — but Taiwan's civilian culture is generally more open about mental health than its military culture.
Source: Taiwan Ministry of National Defense; Mental Health Foundation Taiwan; NDC (National Development Council) policy documentation
Singapore
22–24 months mandatory service + reservist obligations to age 40–50The SAF has military psychologists and welfare officers embedded in the system. The short-service model relative to career forces limits depth. MINDEF has increasingly acknowledged the need for mental health support.
- ▸SAF Base Medical Centres provide psychological services to NSFs. The military counselling service is part of the institutional welfare framework.
- ▸IMH (Institute of Mental Health) Singapore provides civilian psychiatric services accessible to veterans after discharge.
- ▸A 2021 NSmen survey conducted by NS Policy Academy found mental health support to be one of the top requested improvements to the NSF experience.
- ▸MINDEF has launched NS mental wellness programs and destigmatization campaigns, reflecting acknowledged institutional awareness of the gap between policy and delivery.
Source: Singapore MINDEF; NS Policy Academy surveys; IMH Singapore; Lim et al. (Singapore Medical Journal) on conscript mental health
Section 7: What Service Members Actually Report
Every military has official mental health policy. What service members actually experience is different — and the gap is documented by researchers, not just by anecdote.
The patterns below are documented in peer-reviewed research and official government surveys — not fabricated anecdotes. Citations are included for each finding.
Career consequences of seeking help
Documented across every military in this comparison. US: RAND 2014 survey found 47% of veterans with probable PTSD reported concern about career impact as a barrier to care. UK: KCMHR 2010 found military personnel twice as likely as civilians to report stigma barriers. This is not a cultural outlier — it is a cross-military structural problem.
Source: RAND 2014; KCMHR Hoge et al. published methodology; JAMA Psychiatry meta-analysis on military help-seeking barriers
Peer stigma ("weak" framing)
The 2004 Hoge et al. paper in NEJM that first quantified this found soldiers who met PTSD criteria were significantly more likely to fear being seen as "weak" than those who did not. This pattern is strongest in cultures with warrior-identity frameworks — South Korea, Israel, parts of the US Special Operations community — but exists everywhere. No military has fully solved this.
Source: Hoge et al., NEJM 2004 "Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers to Care"
Civilian-to-veteran knowledge gap
Veterans consistently report that civilian providers do not understand military culture. This is documented: a 2014 study in Psychiatric Services found veterans significantly preferred military-informed providers. The UK's NHS Veterans Aware program and Canada's OSI peer support coordinators are direct policy responses to this documented preference.
Source: Rosen et al. 2014, Psychiatric Services; NHS Veterans Aware program design documents; CAF peer support program rationale
"Battle buddy" peer support outperforms formal channels
Research consistently shows that the first person a veteran discloses distress to is a peer, not a clinician. The VA's Buddy Check program, UK's Combat Stress "are you okay, mate?" campaigns, and Australia's MATES in Construction parallel programs are all evidence-based responses to this finding. These work. Formal systems help more when they are the second step, not the first.
Source: VA Buddy Check research; Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP); Combat Stress program evaluation
Anonymous crisis lines are underutilized
Despite high veteran suicide rates, crisis lines are significantly underutilized. The Veterans Crisis Line (US) handles millions of contacts but reaches only a fraction of those at risk. The primary barriers are: stigma, not wanting to involve official systems, and lack of awareness that the line is confidential. The data suggest marketing and trust-building matter as much as line capacity.
Source: VA 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report; Gould et al. 2012 analysis of crisis line utilization
The claims process as a trauma
Australia's Royal Commission (2024) documented this explicitly: the DVA claims process itself can cause psychological harm. US: multiple Inspector General reports have documented claims-related distress. The adversarial model — where veterans must prove service connection against an institutional default of denial — is documented as contributing to hopelessness and suicidal ideation in some cases.
Source: Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide (Australia) 2024; VA OIG reports; Veterans Legal Services Clinic research
The one universal finding
Across every military and every research tradition in this comparison, the most consistent finding is this: early intervention is significantly more effective than late intervention. The longer PTSD, depression, or moral injury goes untreated, the harder treatment is and the worse outcomes become. The silence — driven by stigma, system barriers, and the adversarial claims process — has a documented clinical cost. Seeking help earlier produces better outcomes. This is not motivational language. It is the documented finding of thirty years of PTSD research.
Source: Rothbaum et al. (1992) early intervention research; Kessler et al. PTSD chronicity data; VA's own treatment effectiveness publications
Section 8: What to Actually Do If You Are Struggling
Country-specific crisis lines and mental health pathways. Every number listed here is a verified, published resource from the organization's own official communications or government health authority. Numbers do change — if you find a discrepancy, let us know.
Call emergency services in your country (911 in the US, 999 in the UK, 000 in Australia, 112 in most of Europe, 119 in South Korea, 101 in Israel).
Text 838255
veteranscrisisline.net
Available 24/7. Confidential. Also accessible via chat. Does not require VA enrollment. Works for active duty, veterans, and their families.
Veterans' Gateway: 0808 802 1212
combatstress.org.uk
Combat Stress is free and confidential. Veterans' Gateway connects to the full range of veteran support services in the UK.
CAF Member Assistance: 1-800-268-7708
veterans.gc.ca/eng/health-support
Available 24/7. Bilingual (English/French). Also serves currently serving CAF members and RCMP.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
openarms.gov.au
Open Arms is specifically for veterans and families. Available 24/7. Free. Also has online booking for counselling appointments.
Lifeline: 0800 543 354
veteransaffairs.mil.nz
Veterans' Affairs NZ mental health pathway. Lifeline operates 24/7 for general crisis support.
0800 111 0 222 (second line)
telefonseelsorge.de
Free, anonymous, 24/7 crisis line. Not military-specific but widely used. Bundeswehr-Sozialwerk provides additional support for service members and veterans.
ONAC-VG: veteransaffairs resources via onac-vg.fr
onac-vg.fr
3114 is France's national suicide prevention line, launched 2021. Not military-specific. ONAC-VG veteran offices provide in-person support across France.
ERAN: 1201 (emotional support, 24/7)
natal.org.il
NATAL specializes in war and terror-related trauma. ERAN provides general emotional support and crisis intervention. ENOSH: 1-800-500-330 (mental health rehabilitation).
정신건강 위기상담: 1577-0199
mhmh.or.kr
1393 is the national suicide prevention hotline. For in-service mental health: 군 병원 정신건강의학과 (Military hospital psychiatric department) through your unit medical officer.
Samaritans of Singapore: 1767
imh.com.sg
IMH (Institute of Mental Health) operates the 24/7 mental health helpline. SAF members should also access psychological support through their BMT Medical Centre or unit medical officer.
Defensie maatschappelijke dienstverlening
113.nl
113 Suicide Prevention is free, 24/7, anonymous. ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre (arq.org) provides specialist trauma treatment including for military veterans.
Seeking help is not weakness. In every military we cover — the US Army, the IDF, the British Army, the ROKAF, all of them — the documented research shows the same thing: early intervention produces better outcomes. The warriors who survived the hardest deployments were not defined by whether they struggled. They were defined by whether they asked for help when they did.
The silence costs more than the stigma. The research is unambiguous on this.
- RAND Corporation, "Invisible Wounds of War" (2008) — Tanielian & Jaycox eds.
- VA National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report 2023
- Hoge et al., "Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers to Care," NEJM 2004
- RAND Corporation, 2014 barriers to mental health care survey
- UK Ministry of Defence Mental Health Bulletin — KCMHR Armed Forces Cohort Studies
- Veterans Affairs Canada Annual Reports; Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
- Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide (Australia), Final Report 2024
- Wehrbeauftragter des Deutschen Bundestages, Annual Report 2023/2024
- National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) — in-service mental health investigations
- NATAL (Israel Trauma Center) — program documentation
- Jonathan Shay, "Achilles in Vietnam" (1994) — foundational moral injury framing
- Jonathan Maguen et al., moral injury and mental health in post-9/11 veterans, JAMA Psychiatry
- ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre — Netherlands
- Zahava Solomon, longitudinal research on Israeli combat veteran outcomes (Tel Aviv University)
Crisis line numbers are verified from official organization communications as of publication. These lines do change — if a number is incorrect, contact us so we can update it. This page does not constitute medical advice. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, contact emergency services or a crisis line immediately.