title: Exploring positive pathways to care for members of the UK Armed Forces receiving treatment for PTSD: a qualitative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the factors which facilitate UK military personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to engage in help-seeking behaviours.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study recruited active service personnel who were attending mental health services, employed a qualitative design, used semi-structured interview schedules to collect data, and explored these data using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five themes emerged about how participants were able to access help; having to reach a crisis point before accepting the need for help, overcoming feelings of shame, the importance of having an internal locus of control, finding a psychological explanation for their symptoms and having strong social support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study reported that for military personnel who accessed mental health services, there were a number of factors that supported them to do so. In particular, factors that combated internal stigma, such as being supported to develop an internal locus of control, appeared to be critical in supporting military personnel to engage in help-seeking behaviour.
authors.affiliation: King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Dominic
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Royal Holloway University, London, UK.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Luzon
authors.affiliation: King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Greenberg
keywords: Military health; PTSD; barriers; depression; pathways; stigma