
Reflections of a Military Psychiatrist
by Robert Marietta
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Pub Date 5 Aug 2025 | Archive Date 3 Aug 2025
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Description
Much has been written about military mental health, but nothing has done the issue justice. Accounts from those on the inside of the system are missing.
Reflections of a Military Psychiatrist is a deep dive into the world of military mental health. The book provides a rare, powerful account from the perspective of a career military psychiatrist who served across multiple branches, including the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Veterans Affairs. It offers an account of serving as a military mental health provider at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth from 2019 to 2022, including the events leading up to and surrounding the USS George Washington and Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center suicide clusters. Marietta examines the inspector general suicide cluster reports from the perspective of a military mental health provider.
Reflections of a Military Psychiatrist discusses common military mental health issues and the impact they have on service members and the organization. Marietta describes similar toxic maltreatment his patients faced and his efforts to obtain justice. Firsthand accounts, stories of recovery from veterans, lessons learned, and practical recommendations for reform are discussed, including strategies to establish a safe channel for those afflicted, reducing stigma and negative consequences for getting help.
A Note From the Publisher
Available Editions
EDITION | Paperback |
ISBN | 9798888247921 |
PRICE | US$22.95 (USD) |
PAGES | 396 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews

One of the things that I, as a psychologist, consider key to being a good mental health care provider, is the ability to listen to more experienced colleagues whose career looks different from mine. Despite the fact that psychiatrists graduate in Medicine then specialise in Psychiatry, whereas us therapists study Psychology and go on to specialise in clinical intervention (and may choose to focus on specific populations / disorders / age groups), we both work towards the same endgoal, which is providing those who seek our help with tools and strategies with which their suffering can be relieved.
Throughout this book, Marietta offers an unsweetened and raw account of his time in the different units and divisons of the US Military, where he had the chance to stay with most - if not all - corps and learn how each one does things. Despite not quite grasping some of the implications tied to the US Military's hierarchy, since I am not from the States, what I found and definitely value is a sincere look at how the system fails those who protect it when they need help the most. Without any harsh words or bile, yet also without euphemisms or sugarcoating, Marietta examines the different causes of the flaws in the military healthcare system.
In particular, it was quite interesting to learn about different cases in which the unhealthy environment was clearly the root issue, since Marietta accounts for the ways in which the context can either heal or break a person. Although psychiatrists are more so in charge of medication and diagnoses, whereas it's psychologists who can do therapy, Marietta clearly developed therapeutic skills and helped enormously with primary and secondary prevention of severe mental health issues amongst military personnel who were largely forgotten and mistreated by the system. Reading about the beliefs and moral codes of conduct that are taught in the US Military (which is not all too different from what happens in other countries, I reckon) was enlightening to me, since it helped me understand how they think and why their values are these or those.
Overall I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the mental health of the military and their loved ones. This book will be an excellent read for anyone who works in the mental health care field, military specialty or not, through its thorough review of the environmental faactors that can cause a person to spiral in highly demanding environments.

This was a wonderful book. It was easy to read and understand. I might be a little more familiar with the talk as an Air Force brat, but it was still very informative. I would love to interview the good doctor about his work and the subject in a broader context. There seems to be a lot of talk about mental health in the services nowadays.
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