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Glossary of Terms

Operational stress injury (OSI)

General public definition

  • Operational stress injury (OSI) is currently not listed as a diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR or ICD-11.
  • This definition was developed by members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
  • OSI refers to any mental disorder or other mental health condition resulting from operational duties performed while serving in the Canadian Armed Forces.
  • This term is often used by public safety personnel to describe mental health problems that may result from performing their assigned duties, for example, a police officer’s anxiety symptoms after witnessing a shooting incident or a potentially psychologically traumatic death.
  • Operational stress injury (OSI) is often mistakenly used interchangeably with organizational stress injury or occupational stress injury; it is important, therefore, to be specific when referring to each of these three terms.

Academic definition

  • Operational stress injury (OSI) is currently not listed as a diagnosis in either the DSM-5-TR or the ICD-11.
  • OSI refers to any mental disorder or other mental health condition resulting from operational duties performed while serving in the Canadian Armed Forces.
  • The term and definition were developed by the same team of military personnel who designed the Canadian Armed Forces peer support initiative, Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS), as part of a broad effort to destigmatize the mental health symptoms that military members can develop after exposure to one or more potentially psychologically traumatic events.
  • The decision to use “injury” in the term was deliberate, to help people perceive mental injuries as on par with the physical injuries that military personnel sometimes sustain, which tend to be perceived as “honourable” injuries.
  • Generally, the operational stressors associated with an operational stress injury are potentially psychologically traumatic events.
  • OSI is used to describe a broad range of mental disorders that may not meet DSM or ICD criteria for mental disorders but nevertheless are debilitating, cause distress, and interfere with daily functioning in social, work, and family life. These include:
    • Posttraumatic stress disorder
    • Anxiety disorders
    • Depressive disorders
    • Substance use disorders, and
    • Other mental health conditions.
  • The term is often used by public safety personnel to describe mental health problems that may result from performing their assigned duties.
  • OSI is sometimes mistakenly used synonymously with organizational stress injury or occupational stress injury, but the literature defines these differently.
  • Only OSI has been defined and used with any regularity in the mental health community.

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