With the United States military stretched thin in the “global war on terror,” military officials have embraced psychopharmaceuticals in the effort to enable more troops to remain “mission-capable.” Within the intimate conditions in which deployed military personnel work and live, soldiers learn to read for signs of psychopharmaceutical use by others, and consequently, may become accountable to those on medication in new ways. On convoys and in the barracks, up in the observation post and out in the motor pool, the presence and perceived volatility of psychopharmaceuticals can enlist non-medical military personnel into the surveillance and monitoring of medicated peers, in sites far beyond the clinic. Drawing on fieldwork with Army personnel and veterans, this article explores collective and relational aspects of psychopharmaceutical use among soldiers deployed post-9/11 in Iraq and Afghanistan. I theorize this social landscape as a form of “medication by proxy,” both to play on the fluidity of the locus of medication administration and effects within the military corporate body, and to emphasize the material and spatial ways that proximity to psychopharmaceuticals pulls soldiers into relationships of care, concern and risk management. Cases presented here reveal a devolution and dispersal of biomedical psychiatric power that complicates mainstream narratives of mental health stigma in the US military.

随着美国军队在“全球反恐战争”中步履维艰，军方官员开始接受心理药物的支持，以使更多的部队保持“任务能力”。在部署的军事人员工作和生活的亲密条件下，士兵学会阅读以获取他人使用精神药物的迹象，因此，可能以新的方式对服药的人负责。在车队和军营中，在观察哨站的上方和在运动池外面，精神药物的存在和感知到的波动都可以使非医务军事人员进入远远超出诊所的场所，以监视和监视有药的同伴。利用陆军人员和退伍军人的野外工作，本文探讨了9/11后部署在伊拉克和阿富汗的士兵中心理药物使用的集体和相关方面。我将这种社会格局理论化为一种“代用药物”形式，既可以发挥药物管理场所的流动性以及在军事法人团体内部的影响，又可以强调与心理药物接近的物质和空间方式将士兵拉入护理，关注和风险管理之间的关系。这里介绍的案例揭示了生物医学精神病学权力的转移和散布，这使美军对心理健康耻辱的主流叙述变得复杂。”既要发挥药物管理场所的流动性以及在军事法人团体内部的影响，又要强调与心理药物接近的物质和空间方式，将士兵拉入关怀，关注和风险管理的关系。这里介绍的案例揭示了生物医学精神病学权力的转移和散布，这使美军对心理健康耻辱的主流叙述变得复杂。”既要发挥药物管理场所的流动性以及在军事法人团体内部的影响，又要强调与心理药物接近的物质和空间方式，将士兵拉入关怀，关注和风险管理的关系。这里介绍的案例揭示了生物医学精神病学权力的转移和散布，这使美军对心理健康耻辱的主流叙述变得复杂。