Washington, Aug. 20 (ANI): Soldiers can find themselves emotionally hurt by seeing photos of their spouses partying with strangers and innuendo-laden updates on social networking sites, US military psychiatrists have warned.

Military psychiatrists have said that Facebook on the front lines has played an important part in a number of problems, including depression and suicide in active-duty military personnel.

About 80% of all of our intake had some Facebook flavor, psychiatrist Dr. Valeh Karimkhani, an Army reserve major, who has served two tours of duty in Iraq, said.

Karimkhani said that the damage was apparent when she watched troops using Skype and Facebook at the Al Asad Airbase.

When you're on the other side of the world and you see all these pictures of your wife or husband with a new group of people, new friends, it becomes really concerning, the New York Post quoted Karimkhani, chief of psychiatry liaison services at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, California, as saying.

They would become depressed and paranoid and end up in psychiatry, saying, 'I'm going to kill myself,' Karimkhani added.

According to the report, Karimkhan said that one soldier received a Facebook message from her husband on their anniversary, telling her he had fallen in love with another woman and wanted a divorce.

That was particularly cold, Karimkhani added.

Military psychiatrists are now able restrict troops' access to social media, change a soldier's password and even force a mediated phone call with a warring spouse, the report said.

However, the move has led to soldiers fighting against insurgents being unable to communicate to family when there are problems at home, but being able to see and communicate on Skype and via Facebook troops are able to come close enough to home, but not close enough to do anything about it, the report concluded. (ANI)