Out of sight out of mind: an examination of mental health problems in UK military reservists and veterans.

These results highlight the need for ongoing support for military regular, ex-regular and reservist personnel. Additional research is needed to examine potential risk and protective factors for mental health problems in both deployed and nondeployed reservists.Key pointsOverall, mobilized deployed reservists were more likely to experience mental health problems than non-deployed reservists. Nondeployed regulars reported significantly more common mental health problems than nondeployed mobilized reservists.Reservists and (ex-)regulars reported similar rates of PTSD. This suggests reservists are vulnerable to developing PTSD following non-combat related trauma that may not lead to PTSD in regulars and this warrants future research.Reservists were less likely to report problematic alcohol consumption compared to regular personnel and ex-regular veterans. The greatest amount of reservist problematic drinking was reported in non-deployed veteran reservists. This indicates problematic alcohol consumption is not deployment related in this group and highlights the need for ongoing formal support for alcohol use disorders in the UK Armed Forces.