Our findings from the fourth phase of the Health and Wellbeing Cohort Study (2022/23) are here. We found rises in Common Mental Disorders (CMD) & PTSD in serving & ex-serving personnel since 2014/16. To read our full report, please visit: #OpRESEARCH

And that is it from #vmhc2025 for this year. Thanks so much for joining us in person or online. A huge thanks to our speakers, delegates, volunteers, host and sponsors @FiMTrust and @TNLComFund. Keep following us here and elsewhere. See you soon!.

If you enjoyed today, do follow @FiMT_RC for details on tomorrow's #FiMTRC2025 conference "understanding and supporting the Armed Forces Community in an evolving world".

As we draw to a close, he reflects that as we continue to help those in need, an increasing focus on those who do well and thrive as the result of their time in the military is also vital.

#VMHC2025 conference chair Prof Dominic Murphy (@combatstress, @KCMHR & @estss_news) announces the winners of the #vmhc2025 poster prizes are:.Milly Adams.Ronessa Dass.Dr Robin Campbell Bromhead.

He pays tribute to all KCMHR collaborators over the past 25 years and invites delegates to "raise a toast to KCMHR and ADMMH".

He concludes by saying KCMHR work has resulted in significant policy impacts and change in the military and veteran field.

As a history buff, Sir Simon concludes by citing KCMHR work that shows "PTSD is not shell shock" - what was seen in WW1 is different from what we see now.

"People think that the reason there are problems with kids in military families is that deployment had an impact on children. [KCMHR research showed] there wasn't. What did, was when the adult came back with mental health problems".- Sir Simon Wessely (@WesselyS) #vcmhr2025.

Sir Simon says KCMHR research has shown the military do report stigmatising attitudes towards mental health BUT those rates are lower than the general pop. post-deployment. "this is an adaptive [stigma], it's all about context".

e.g. Burnett et al 2019 showing veterans do well in terms of employment post-service (despite a potential early spike after leaving) and stable rates of disability benefit claims.

. e.g. comparing military personnel criminal offending with the general population - the military has a lower rate in general (except violence for <30yrs; McManus et al 2014). "Our work has showed how the military has improved the social the life chances of some people".

He points to evidence from KCMHR Cohort that pre-deployment mental health screening does more harm than good (Rona et al 2007, BMJ), and the ability to link King's Cohort data with other data sources.

Sir Simon runs through some notable KCMHR work, including longitudinal evidence showing the "lack of a PTSD tidal wave" over time which was predicted by some (notwithstanding some increases in certain military/veteran sub-groups).

"The key," he says "was the invasion of Iraq and Op TELIC". This started the KCMHR Cohort Study. "Cohort's are unbelievably cool. it's large. it's tri-service. it's longitudinal".

Sir Simon reflects the KCMHR's remit has been broad covering history, epidemiology, RCTS, outcome studies, quant and qual studies, policy analysis, sociology and anthropology.

He looks back at the genesis of KCMHR - looking at Gulf War illness(es), trying to understand why those who had been to the Gulf had greater burden of poor health than other groups

Prof Murphy pays tribute to Sir Simon as a mentor to many (and guest on Desert Island Discs).

Sir Simon (@WesselyS) founded @kcmhr in 2003 and is the Regius Chair of Psychiatry @kings_ioppn and a Non-Executive Director of NHS England.

Our final #vmhc2025 speaker is our own Professor Sir Simon Wessely reflecting on 25+ years of research at KCMHR

Prof Sadler adds that there are people out there with suicide risk who are not in contact with the mental health system (for various reasons), which is why it's important to consider other pathways to care and support.