Perspectives and Contexts of Arts, Social Health and the Military

The paper outlines and introduces the context for the Special Edition on the arts, social health and the military. The social imperative of arts work in this area is founded on current statistics of between 18% and 30% of those returning from war zones to civilian life can be expected to suffer mental health issues, which can lead to family breakdown, homelessness and other social problems. In the USA for example, there have been 103,792 cases of post-traumatic stress (PTS) diagnosed in returned service personnel (in the period from 2000 to 2012). The paper provides a brief overview of the history of PTS and the ways in which arts-based strategies have been integrated into this history. The paper discusses the contemporary context of arts and health with military personnel, arguing that considerable work has grown out of alliances with small veteran support organisations interested in finding new and complimentary approaches to supporting ex-service personnel on their transition from military to civilian life.