Professional Burnout in Clinical Military Psychologists: Recommendations Before, During, and After Deployment

Clinical military psychologists (CMPs) hold one of the most difficult positions within professional psychology. Given their exposure to a variety of environmental, physical, psychosocial, and emotional stressors, professional burnout (PB) can be a serious issue for CMPs. In order to (a) protect job satisfaction, (b) increase professional confidence, (c) facilitate a long and rewarding military career, and (d) ensure competent care is provided to our clients, a two-pronged approach of CMPs taking care of themselves on the one hand, and the military providing effective assessment, prevention, and intervention, on the other hand, is needed. Such an approach to protecting the military's limited mental health resources could ultimately ensure that service members receive proper care. In this article, the authors discuss the challenges experienced by CMPs as potential contributors to PB during all three phases of the deployment cycle. Several recommendations are offered for addressing such challenges.