Can you join the army with a mental illness?

BoatsBM1	AR 40-501 Chapter 2 Physical Standards for Enlistment, Appointment, and Induction 2-27. Learning, psychiatric and behavioral disorders c. Current or history of disorders with psychotic features such as schizophrenia (295), paranoid disorder (297), and other unspecified psychosis (298) is disqualifying. d. Current mood disorders including, but not limited to, major depression (296.2-3), bipolar (296.4-7), affective psychoses (296.8-9), depressive not otherwise specified (311), are disqualifying.

morpheus8250	Not sure which army you're looking to join, but the British Army medical regulations state that candidates with bi-polar disorder are normally graded S8 (unfit for military service). Under 'Schizophrenic and delusional disorders' it explains that candidates with these diagnoses are normally graded S8, with a single exception: If it was an acute and transient psychotic disorder, lasting less than 4 days and attributable to an obvious cause such as toxic reaction to a drug or acute severe infection. Most mental illnesses will get you graded S8 unless they were either very minor, single occurrences, or happened many years ago and have not recurred. I expect most armies have similar standards.

Harley Drive	no it will disqualify you , strangely although their business is killing people, if you express a desire to kill people they will not accept you, you must pretend to be uninterested in the main aim of killing people even though it's what all armed forces are for

Archangel Snarky	Definitely not. Can't let people have access to weapons if there's a possibility they could try and use them to stave off the bats circling overhead.

Your nightmare	they must because only a mentally ill person could fire their rifle at another human being.

Michael	That depends on the diagnosis in question. Some disqualify you immediately, others are handled on a case by case basis. Generally, if you're currently taking medication or are in therapy, it's a no-go. ADD, for example, does not automatically disqualify you. I'm pretty sure schizophrenia and bipolar disorder do.

Patrick	Nope too much risk and resbonsibilty for them:) They wouldnt risk it...

CooCoo4CocoaPuffs	I was denied entry because of my mental problems...

SVU	Oh god no. It is a DQ immediately. Whether you want to believe it or not, the military has big standards to meet.