A major study of South Korea’s military, published in Military Medicine on November 2, 2026, found that adjustment disorders, rather than post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), account for the overwhelming majority of mental health diagnoses in the country’s conscription-based armed forces. Researchers from Inha and Hanyang Universities analysed medical records covering 2,251,713 military personnel between May 2012 and December 2022. Adjustment disorders, which involve difficulties adapting to stressful circumstances or major life changes, accounted for 69.8% of recorded mental health diagnoses and 97.1% of diagnoses classified as stress-related disorders. Military trainees experienced particularly high rates, with an adjusted incidence 4.8 times that of non-commissioned officers. Full-time reserve soldiers also experienced substantially elevated rates, at 3.97 times those of NCOs.
The researchers argue that the findings challenge the emphasis on PTSD in military mental health research, which has largely examined Western volunteer armed forces. They suggest that the distinctive characteristics of conscription, including involuntary entry, strict hierarchical authority and limited personal autonomy, may produce different patterns of psychological distress. As the authors explain, “The structural features of conscription systems—involuntary entry, hierarchical authority, and restricted autonomy—may shape a diagnostic distribution” different from that of volunteer forces. They recommend placing greater emphasis on preventing adjustment-related stress rather than relying primarily on programmes designed around combat-related PTSD. However, the study did not directly compare conscripts with volunteers, meaning it cannot establish how much of the observed mental health burden is caused by compulsory service itself.
Yangwoo Kim, Jeehee Min, Inah Kim, Jaechul Song, Tae-Won Jang, Adjustment Disorders, Not Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Mental Health Burden Among Conscription-Based Military Personnel in the Republic of Korea, Military Medicine, 2026;, usag475, https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usag475
