Seth Moulton tackles mental health with 2020 treatment plan

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder after serving as a Marine in the Iraq War, and the experience prompted him to reveal a military mental health plan as part of his 2020 presidential campaign, Politico reports.

"I had some particular experiences or regrets from the war that I just thought about every day, and occasionally I’d have bad dreams or wake up in a cold sweat. But because these experiences weren’t debilitating — I didn’t feel suicidal or completely withdrawn, and I was doing fine in school — it took me a while to appreciate that I was dealing with post-traumatic stress and I was dealing with an experience that a lot of other veterans have."

The plan:

• Require mental health checkups to be a component of annual physicals for active-duty military members and veterans.
• Fill mental health vacancies at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and fund alternative treatments, including cannabis and mindfulness therapies.
• Provide every high schooler in the country an annual mental health checkup.
• Establish a national mental health crisis hotline for civilians, veterans and active-duty military members.

Go deeper: Seth Moulton on the issues, in under 500 words