The impact of public opposition to war in Iraq and Afghanistan on the mental health of soldiers will be examined by scientists in Britain as part of the largest medical investigation of the Armed Forces yet conducted.

The study will assess whether widespread hostility to the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has made it harder for soldiers to cope with their experiences when they return.

It will particularly focus on the mental health of reservists, who have been shown by previous research to suffer from depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at much higher rates than regular soldiers.

Many experts think this may reflect the way they are expected to return to civilian life immediately after deployment. Unlike regulars, they are not surrounded by other veterans who understand what they have been through and to whom they can turn for support.

Professor Simon Wessely, director of the King’s Centre for Military Health Research, which is conducting the study, said it would also investigate whether this effect was compounded by the unpopularity of the Iraq war.

“We will look at negative perceptions of the war and how that impacts on service personnel,” he told The Times. “If this has had an effect, it is a good question whether this affects reservists even more than regulars, as they have more interactions with civilians.”

Research published by Professor Wessely found that while deployment to Iraq had little impact on the mental health of regular soldiers compared to other conflicts, those serving in the Territorial Army had suffered more severely.

It found that as many as 6 per cent, or about 700, of the 12,000 reservists who have served in Iraq may be suffering from PTSD and that rates of depression were higher than among regular soldiers. At least two Territorial Army Iraq veterans, Private Dave Forshaw and Private Peter Mahoney, have committed suicide since returning to civilian life.

The work has changed the Ministry of Defence’s approach to returning reservists. It now gives them access to military healthcare after returning from overseas deployments and it has started a Reserves Mental Health Programme that offers psychiatric assessments and treatment.

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