Guideline I: Emotional, Mental & Personality Disorders
This guideline addresses whether an individual has a dynamic or persistent emotional, mental, or personality condition that can cause a significant defect in judgment, stability, reliability, or trustworthiness.
The focus of Guideline I is not on mental health in general, but rather on whether a specific condition or behavior pattern interferes with an individual’s ability to protect classified information or follow security protocols.
Note: The U.S. Government encourages individuals to seek mental health treatment. Seeking counseling for common issues like grief, relationship stress, or PTSD following combat is generally not a security concern and is often seen as a sign of good judgment and maturity. Seeking appropriate medical advice and mental health care is important for an individual’s own life and the safety of themselves and their families, and it demonstrates sound judgment in the security clearance context.
Concerns Under Guideline I
Adjudicators are concerned with mental health conditions or behavior related to an individual’s psychological and emotional health that suggest an individual might be unstable or unreliable and should not have access to classified information:
- Behavior that indicates emotional or mental instability, such as violence towards others, self-harm, drug abuse, suicidal ideation or attempts, paranoia, impulsive and irresponsible acts such as large amounts of spending, antisocial behavior, and chronic lying.
- A formal diagnosis by a duly qualified mental health professional that an individual has a psychological condition or personality disorder that, by its nature, impairs judgment, reliability, stability, or trustworthiness.
- Inpatient hospitalization, whether voluntary or involuntary.
- Failure to follow a prescribed treatment program, whether medication, doctor’s appointments, or counseling sessions.
- Pathological gambling. This can also raise Guideline F concerns for financial considerations, where the gambling losses create unpayable debts.
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Mitigation
Adjudicators look for evidence that the condition is actively being managed and that the individual remains has a strong likelihood of future stability.
- Favorable Prognosis: A mental health professional provides an opinion that the condition is under control or in remission, and the individual has a good prognosis for stable psychological health.
- Adherence to Treatment: The individual has consistently followed all treatment recommendations, including taking prescribed medication and mental health counseling.
- Unusual or Temporary Circumstances: The condition was a temporary response to a specific stressful event (e.g., a death in the family or a high-stress deployment) and has since resolved. Often, the death or illness of close friends and family, job loss, divorce, sexual assault, infidelity, financial stresses, and other things occur that can negatively affect an individual’s mental well-being and create behavioral problems. Demonstrating that the root conditions that led to the problem are resolved and unlikely to recur can help.
- Voluntary Treatment: The individual recognized the need for help and sought treatment voluntarily, demonstrating proactive judgment, and voluntarily reported the issue to their security manager.
Contact an Experienced Security Clearance Guideline I Attorney
Like all other security clearance concerns, psychological conditions can create doubt whether someone is a security risk and if they can properly safeguard classified information. Identifying underlying conditions causing emotional instability and seeking the right evaluation and treatment are the keys to resolving a Guideline I case. Our firm works with clinical psychologists with years of experience in the national security arena who can help rebut problematic diagnoses by federal government contracted evaluators and provide more recent opinions on an individual’s mental health. Working collaboratively with these experts can help to regain or maintain clearance eligibility. Contact us today for a free confidential consultation to help resolve any outstanding concerns under Guideline I. Brian@LSAttorneys.com 847-775-7701
