If you need immediate help, please call 911 or the Military Crisis Line at 800-273-8255 and press 1

Stress & Anxiety

The demands of military life are challenging. Whether at home or abroad, service members regularly face difficult situations that can cause stress and anxiety.

When left unchecked, these feelings can last weeks or months, get worse, or interfere with your duties at home and in uniform. For this reason, it is important to reach out to your health care provider if you feel intense or lasting stress or anxiety. Your provider can work with you to manage your symptoms and keep you mission ready. Use the following resources to learn about stress, anxiety and other related topics.

Recommended Resources

U.S. Army National Guard photo by Capt. William Carraway

Anxiety 101

We all worry or feel anxious from time to time. You may feel anxious about an important briefing to your commander or preparing to leave your family and daily routine for a deployment. Anxiety is an emotion experienced when anticipating something threatening or dangerous that might happen in the future. It is usually accompanied by physical feelings of tension and worried thoughts. Occasional anxiety is common. However, if your anxiety interferes with daily activities or is affecting your relationships, check in with your health care provider.

U.S. Marines photo by Cpl. Elize McKelvey

Stress Reduction Techniques for High-Stress Operations

Any role in the military can be stressful. However, for those like special operators, explosive ordinance technicians, submariners, aviators and others, stress is a significant part of the job. The extreme stress faced by these warriors, and others, can lead to psychological health concerns.

U.S. Army photo by Spc. Alexander Naylor/Released

Mind over Mood: Six Ways to Think Positively

Positive thinking can improve your mood and help you keep stress in check. Here are six ways you can turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts:

1. Don’t Overgeneralize. Overgeneralization is the belief that because something happened once it will happen again.