Interesting article in the NY Times on new mental toughness training programs being tested on soldiers. What struck me was how experimental it was. No evidence that this works but they are trying it out anyway. This from the article:

But outside experts cautioned that the Army program was more an experiment than a proven solution. “It’simportant to be clear that there’s no evidence that any program makessoldiers more resilient,” said George A. Bonanno, a psychologist at Columbia University. But he and others said the program could settle one of the most important questions in psychology: whether mental toughness can be taught in the classroom . . .

. . . .The training is based in part on the ideas of Dr. Aaron Beck and thelate Albert Ellis, who found that mentally disputing unexaminedthoughts and assumptions often defuses them. It also draws on recent research suggesting that people can manage stress by thinking in terms of their psychological strengths.

“Psychologyhas given us this whole language of pathology, so that a soldier intears after seeing someone killed thinks, ‘Something’s wrong with me; Ihave post-traumatic stress,’ ” or P.T.S.D., Dr. Seligman said. “Theidea here is to give people a new vocabulary, to speak in terms ofresilience. Most people who experience trauma don’t end up withP.T.S.D.; many experience post-traumatic growth.”

Many of the sergeants were at first leery of the techniques. “But I think maybe it becomes like muscle memory — with practice you start to use them automatically,” said Sgt. First Class Darlene Sanders of Fort Jackson, S.C.

Totrack the effects of the program, the Army will require troops at alllevels, from new recruits to officers, to regularly fill out a 170-itemquestionnaire to evaluate their mental health, along with the strengthof their social support, among other things.

The program is not intended to diagnose mental health problems. The results will be kept private, General Casey said.

TheArmy will track average scores in units to see whether the training hasany impact on mental symptoms and performance, said Gen. Rhonda Cornum,the director of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, who is overseeing thecarrying out of the new resilience program. General Cornum said thatthe Army had contracted with researchers at the University of Michiganto determine whether the training was working, and added thatcorrections could be made along the way “if the program is not havingthe intended effect.”