Absence of Joint family taking toll on soldiers' psyche

Chandigarh, Dec 12 (UNI) Long separation and concern for the family are main reason weighing on the minds of defence personnel and resulting in suicides or attacks on colleagues, a study has revealed.

''Due to falling apart of joint family system, the soldiers posted at far off places get stressed as they are dogged by family problems with no one to lend a helping hand like earlier times,'' said Armed Forces Medical Services Director General Surgeon Vice Admiral VK Singh here today.

Alarmed by the cases of suicides and attacks by defence personnel, authorities had an internal study conducted, which revealed that apart from decreasing family support, the other stress causing factors were apathy of civil administration, dissatisfaction with career graph, adjustment problems at tough and unfamiliar terrain and long serving period in isolated and disturbed areas, he said.

The defence authorities were planning a number of steps to deal with these problems. These include inter-unit transfers, grant of leave whenever possible and improvement in service conditions among others, Vice Admiral Singh said.

''But most important, we are planning to involve local defence units to get involve in taking care of posted defence personnels' families specially in remote villages. We also plan to have coordination with civil bodies so that pending works concerning posted personnel' family does not suffer, he said.

UNI DP JN Vd BD1916