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Incog4
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M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
From the article;
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"Nineteen percent of those back from Iraq reported mental healh concerns, compared with 11 percent of those back from Afghanistan and 8.5 percent of those returning from other places, such as Bosnia."
"...the actual number of soldiers who need treatment is higher, since other studies have shown that half the soldiers who need treatment are unwilling to admit it.
There are individuals who are afraid to come in and get help despite needing it, because of fear that they'll be stigmatized..."
"President Bush's budget plan includes a 6 percent increase in spending for the Department of Veterans Affairs. But some in Congress say that is not enough because the increase hinges on more than $1 billion in cuts in other VA spending and the approval of new fees and co-payments for some veterans."
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As a NamVet, this infuriates me when I think about the very many NamVets who are still suffering from PTS, having "flashbacks" asleep and awake, are dependent on psychotropic drugs, are in and out of the VA Hospitals, had lost their wives and kids to divorces, had been ostracized by their own parents and siblings, had been avoided by their best friends and closest neighbors, are living in homeless-shelters or on the streets, and/or had been either victims or perpetrators of horrendous violent crimes.
Aaron
Here is the news article;
CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/01/iraq/main1357296.shtml
More Iraq Vets Seek Mental Health Care
CHICAGO, March 1, 2006
(AP / CBS)
Fast Fact
Nineteen percent of those back from Iraq reported mental health concerns, compared with 11 percent of those back from Afghanistan and 8.5 percent of those returning from other places, such as Bosnia.
Thirty-five percent of Iraq veterans received mental health care during their first year home, according to a new Pentagon study. In addition, 12 percent of the more than 222,000 returning Army soldiers and Marines in the study were diagnosed with a mental problem.
The researchers did not find the results surprising, because the military has a new mental health screening program for returning soldiers and is encouraging them to get help early to prevent serious problems later, said study co-author Dr. Charles Hoge, a colonel at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Because of the new screening program, the findings cannot be compared with those from previous wars, Hoge said.
"There are psychological consequences of war and we want to address those up front," Hoge said. "The hope is we won't have as high rates of mental health consequences as we've seen in prior wars."
But CBS News correspondent David Martin reports the actual number of soldiers who need treatment is higher, since other studies have shown that half the soldiers who need treatment are unwilling to admit it.
"There are individuals who are afraid to come in and get help despite needing it, because of fear that they'll be stigmatized," Hoge told Martin.
Nineteen percent of those back from Iraq reported mental health concerns, compared with 11 percent of those back from Afghanistan and 8.5 percent of those returning from other places, such as Bosnia.
The study appears Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Veterans' advocates said the study supports their call for increased spending on mental health care for Iraq veterans.
President Bush's budget plan includes a 6 percent increase in spending for the Department of Veterans Affairs. But some in Congress say that is not enough because the increase hinges on more than $1 billion in cuts in other VA spending and the approval of new fees and co-payments for some veterans.
"This budget would ultimately shortchange veterans who need mental health services," said Ralph Ibson, a vice president of the National Mental Health Association. "This study can and should be a wake-up call in terms of veterans' mental health needs."
Medical authorities first accepted post-traumatic stress disorder as a psychiatric condition in 1980 at the urging of Vietnam veterans. A previous study by Hoge and his colleagues found 15 percent to 17 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq showed signs of the disorder, and many were reluctant to seek help because of the stigma attached to mental illness.
Shortly after starting the ground war in Iraq in 2003, the Pentagon began requiring returning service members to complete a three-page survey that is used to decide who needs additional help.
Among other things, the veterans are asked whether they have had nightmares, whether they are constantly on guard or easily startled, and whether they feel numb or detached from others.
"In prior wars, mental health issues weren't studied until years, sometimes decades, after the soldiers came back," Hoge said. "For this war, we're doing it differently. Research is influencing policy and we're adjusting policies as the data come in."
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3/5/2006, 8:21 am
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Incog4
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Re: M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
Report: Suicidal troops sent into combat
U.S. military violated own rules on mentally ill troops, newspaper finds
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:04 p.m. ET May 13, 2006
HARTFORD, Conn. - U.S. military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness, a newspaper reported for Sunday editions.
The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evacuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq.
In 1997, Congress ordered the military to assess the mental health of all deploying troops. The newspaper, citing Pentagon statistics, said fewer than 1 in 300 service members were referred to a mental health professional before shipping out for Iraq as of October 2005.
Twenty-two U.S. troops committed suicide in Iraq last year, accounting for nearly one in five of all non-combat deaths and was the highest suicide rate since the war started, the newspaper said.
‘Chemically active time bombs’
Some service members who committed suicide in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite clear signs of mental distress, sometimes after being prescribed antidepressants with little or no mental health counseling or monitoring. Those findings conflict with regulations adopted last year by the Army that caution against the use of antidepressants for “extended deployments.”
“I can’t imagine something more irresponsible than putting a soldier suffering from stress on (antidepressants), when you know these drugs can cause people to become suicidal and homicidal,” said Vera Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection. “You’re creating chemically activated time bombs.”
Although Defense Department standards for enlistment disqualify recruits who suffer “persistent post-traumatic symptoms,” the military also is redeploying service members to Iraq who fit that criteria, the newspaper said.
“I’m concerned that people who are symptomatic are being sent back. That has not happened before in our country,” said Dr. Arthur S. Blank, Jr., a Yale-trained psychiatrist who helped to get post-traumatic stress disorder recognized as a diagnosis after the Vietnam War.
‘Recruiting has been a challenge’
The Army’s top mental health expert, Col. Elspeth Ritchie, acknowledged that some deployment practices, such as sending service members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome back into combat, have been driven in part by a troop shortage.
“The challenge for us ... is that the Army has a mission to fight. And, as you know, recruiting has been a challenge,” she said. “And so we have to weigh the needs of the Army, the needs of the mission, with the soldiers’ personal needs.”
Ritchie insisted the military works hard to prevent suicides, but is a challenge because every soldier has access to a weapon.
Commanders, not medical professionals, have final say over whether a troubled soldier is retained in the war zone. Ritchie and other military officials said they believe most commanders are alert to mental health problems and are open to referring troubled soldiers for treatment.
“Your average commander doesn’t want to deal with a whacked-out soldier. But on the other hand, he doesn’t want to send a message to his troops that if you act up, he’s willing to send you home,” said Maj. Andrew Efaw, a judge advocate general officer in the Army Reserves who handled trial defense for soldiers in northern Iraq last year.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© 2006 MSNBC.com
URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12777489/
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5/14/2006, 7:07 am
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Incog4
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Re: M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
The gang-rapes and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, along with the murders of her family, are being blamed on "Combat stress" of the 4 American soldiers who did it while "whacked out" on Iraqi cough syrup.
Like I've said, this is reminiscent of the animalistic state that was reached by some of us (too many of us) Americans during the Vietnam fiasco.
Anyway, here's the latest news on the continuing Military Trial of the soldiers involved in this atrocity:
Military court hears of combat stress in Iraq rape case
Tue Aug 8, 2006 6:52 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. military court deciding whether four soldiers should be court-martialled for rape and murder heard on Tuesday how troops were "driven nuts" by combat stress and got high on Iraqi cough syrup.
Private First Class Justic Cross described how conditions "pretty much crushed the platoon", which lived in constant fear of being killed in the Mahmudiya area south of Baghdad where the rape and murders took place in March.
"It drives you nuts. You feel like every step you might get blown up. You just hit a point where you're like, 'If I die today, I die'. You're just walking a death walk," he said.
On Monday, the court at Camp Liberty heard graphic testimony of how three of the soldiers took turns raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl before murdering her and her family.
The case has outraged Iraqis and led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.
Mahmudiya is part of what Iraqis call the "Triangle of Death" for its frequent attacks and kidnappings by insurgents and al Qaeda militants.
Private First Class Jesse Spielman, 21, Specialist James Barker, 23, Sergeant Paul Cortez, 23 and Private First Class Bryan Howard, 19, face charges of rape and murder among others.
If court-martialled after the Article 32 hearing -- the military's equivalent of a U.S. grand jury -- and found guilty, they could face the death penalty. The hearing began on Sunday and is expected to last several days.
Private Steven Green, 21, faces the same charges in a U.S. federal court in Kentucky, home of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, his former unit. Green, who has pleaded not guilty, was discharged from the army for a "personality disorder".
Asked by a defense attorney if it was possible that Green committed the rape and murders on his own, Cross said: "Green does nothing by himself."
Cross told the hearing how soldiers took Iraqi cough syrup which "makes you feel high" to relieve stress.
"Everybody was very depressed. It was (an) outlet to release," he said.
An Iraqi army medic told the hearing on Sunday he entered the house and found the body of 14-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi naked and burned from the waist up, with a single bullet wound beneath her left eye.
A fifth soldier, Sergeant Anthony Yribe, is charged with dereliction of duty and making a false statement.
The hearing continues.
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8/8/2006, 2:47 pm
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NamVet2
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Re: M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
Aaron,
In further support and detailed explanation for your topic, this article is from the web site of Veterans For America, at URL http://www.VeteransforAmerica.org/ArticleID/8653
The emphases were those of the author, so I will also boldface them as she did.
Greg
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Does the Military Send Sick Soldiers to Iraq War?
Nina Berman
AlterNet
Nov 03, 2006
The Army wanted to make an example of Anthony Vanderpool. But what they may have done was make a mentally unbalanced man even worse.
The government's own military doctors knew that Spc. Anthony Vanderpool was mentally unbalanced. He had been admitted to the Bronx and Manhattan Veterans hospitals for major depressive disorder, dizziness, spells, auditory hallucinations and suicidal ideation, according to his V.A. records.
And this was before he even went to Iraq.
"I have a lot of anger. I never should have gone, " said Vanderpool, a Army National Guardsmen with 16 years prior service in the Army, Army reserves, Navy, Navy reserves and Air Force. "They didn't care. They wanted me because I was infantry," he said.
Vanderpool spent 10 months in Iraq on meds, not sleeping, depressed, paranoid, suicidal until he finally "spun out of control," forcing his command to acknowledge that he was too sick to be in a war zone. Off he went to Ft. Polk, La., for five months of medical treatment, and in December 2005, he was honorably discharged due to a "personality disorder."
Since then, he has been living a marginal life in Bay Shore, N.Y., single, no children, unemployed, finding himself increasingly isolated and depressed, and vomiting almost daily. He has been hospitalized for attempted suicide, and a recent review of his medical records show that was prescribed a daily dose of Zoloft for depression, Seroquel and Buspirone for anxiety, Zolmitripitan for migraines and Omeprazole for acid reflux. He attends a Veterans Administration post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) outpatient program twice a week.
Vanderpool's story is not unique
"The DOD admits they are sending mentally unfit soldiers into combat in Iraq," said Steve Robinson of Veterans for America. "This is not supposed to happen; the military should not have deployed this veteran to the war; what were they thinking and what does it say about the overstretched military?"
In May, the Hartford Courant reported that service members with preexisting PTSD were being sent back to Iraq, and some of those afflicted had committed suicide.
The situation galvanized Sens. Boxer, Kennedy, Lieberman and Clinton to sponsor an amendment to the last Defense Appropriations Bill in June calling for more thorough mental health screening, evaluation and detailed guidelines on what precludes deployment to a combat zone.
But the final legislation, passed in mid-October, dropped an original provision that would have required screeners to take a mental health history and refer a service member to a specialist if the service member indicates a mental health issue prior to deployment.
Such a provision might have helped Spc. Vanderpool who said that when he was activated by the National Guard and then deployed to Iraq, he told his superiors that he had a history of psychological problems, but these issues were ignored or dismissed. Once in Iraq, they got worse.
"The military should treat combat stress and psychological injuries as medical conditions. Instead, the military treats our injured soldiers as if they lack moral fortitude and improperly sends them back into battle," said Robinson.
"They said I was malingering, that I was a baby, wah, wah, wah wah, " said Vanderpool of his treatment by 1st Sgt. Daniel J. Bien, of Delta Company 101 Cavalry, at Camp Liberty, Baghdad.
Interviews with Vanderpool and members of his guard unit paint a picture of a command that refused to admit anyone was physically or psychologically sick.
"He (Sgt. Bien) didn't believe anybody was hurt," said Vanderpool's former platoon mate, Spc. Danny Gomes.
Added Sgt. Dallas Eccleston, who saved Vanderpool's life during an ambush,"There were people developing problems over there and people not believing them." He went on to describe Sgt. Bien as "definitely a suck-it-up kind of guy."
[The rest of the story would not fit into this post, so I've added it just below]
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11/18/2006, 4:54 am
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NamVet2
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Re: M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
Bien responded in an email that "soldiers with documented mental illness are not mobilized for war; rather, they are discharged from the Army."
He said he could not "disclose any personal, medical information related to any of my soldiers," then added that Vanderpool "was sent for two mental health evals while in Iraq and there is documentation that he was malingering (faking) to try to get a psych discharge." He did not elaborate on the documentation.
He said Vanderpool had early in his tour concocted a scheme to pretend he was crazy. "He told other soldiers that his brother was mobilized a year or so before and faked being crazy and now collects a paycheck from the state of New York for a mental disability. VDP (Vanderpool]) told others that his plan was to do the same."
Vanderpool has never had a brother in the service.
"Anthony is the only who has been in the service. I have no other sons in the service, and I don't think they want to go there," said Vanderpool's mother Johnnie Mae.
She said that her son had been disabled since 1994 and that he was on medication when he was mobilized to go to Iraq. "I didn't understand why they were taking him over there if he was in the V.A. with a medical problem. It seems they will take anyone over there as long as they carry a gun."
According to documents provided by Vanderpool, his story unfolds as follows.
He was deployed to Iraq after numerous hospitalizations at V.A. hospitals and was being medicated for depression. He arrived in Iraq at the end of October 2004 and was soon caught in a deadly firefight that nearly took his life. After the incident, his psychological condition worsened. Eccleston and Gomes remember Vanderpool walking around, never sleeping, acting strange. A sworn statement by his roommate, Sgt. Timothy Walsh, says Vanderpool complained of flashbacks and was telling bizarre stories about being trained by the CIA and killing people in Spain.
He was treated by a psychiatrist in Iraq who informed his command that "his weapon should be removed from him as he is a threat to himself and others." On Jan. 12, 2005, Sgt. Bien signed a memo putting Vanderpool on profile and taking away his weapons.
A month later Vanderpool returned to New York on leave, and while there was brought by a friend to the Northport Veterans Hospital emergency room. The friend told hospital staff that Vanderpool was acting strange and was nonverbal, and medical reports described him as confused and disoriented. After a meeting with a military liaison team, which reviewed Vanderpool's medical records, including those showing multiple psychiatric hospitalizations, Vanderpool was released from hospital, ordered to report back to duty and return to Iraq.
A few days later he showed up at the Nassau University Medical Center and was diagnosed with peptic ulcer diseases. After receiving treatment, he left the hospital with his Zoloft, Seroquel and Protonix, and was sent back to Iraq.
For five more months he was deployed with no weapon, even though his base was repeatedly hit by rocket fire, killing at least one and wounding several soldiers.
Vanderpool said he felt terrified without a weapon. Gomes said the command was prepared to send Vanderpool on a mission, defenseless.
"They were trying to send this guy on a mission to the fricking border with no weapon. Even the general turned around to 1st Sgt. [Bien] and told him he was crazy, not to let him off base without a weapon."
Bien said, "No soldier was ever sent out or asked to be sent outside the wire without a weapon."
Then he added, "We were also conducting training for Iraqis at another camp and I had to assign several personnel to run this camp. When I included VDP's (Vanderpool's) name on the list, he refused to go."
In July, Vanderpool said he "flipped out," tried to steal another soldier's rifle and attack a superior officer. He was flown out of Iraq, first to a psych unit in Germany and then to Ft. Polk, La., where he spent five months in medical hold under the care of psychiatrists.
Why would the military keep a soldier in Iraq who had attempted suicide and was clearly medically unfit?
"They kept him there out of spite, to use him an example to other soldiers, said Gomes who spent his whole tour with Vanderpool. "Bien wanted to use Vanderpool as an example to the rest of the platoon to obey him."
Bien said, "If every soldier that showed signs of stress was taken off the battle roster, there would be nobody left to fight."
Gomes, now back in Staten Island, out of the National Guard and working toward becoming a New York City policeman, describes his time in Iraq as "the worst thing that ever happened to me. I'd go to Rikers (the New York City detention complex) before I go back there."
Amid his medical files, Vanderpool showed me a yellow piece of paper, the fragments of his life. Scrawled on it were lists of friends from various towns in Nassau County, friends from his tour in Iraq, his mother and father and brothers and sisters, a pastor and therapists. He just wanted to write it down, he said.
To the V.A., Vanderpool's life is as follows.
The patient is a 40-year-old single, unemployed African-American male with a past history of depression who presented to the ER on July 20 upon voluntary admission due to feelings of extreme depression, lack of motivation, isolation and suicide ideation. The patient states that he has been depressed "on and off" since 1994 when he was diagnosed with major depressive disorder. The patient has had multiple psychiatric admissions to Manhattan and Bronx V.A. for dizziness, spells, auditory hallucinations and suicidal threats. The patient states that he is very disturbed by his experiences while in the Army and on his trip to and from Iraq. He continues to be paranoid and is disturbed by the memories he had while he was in Iraq first in 2004.
In the last two weeks prior to admission, the patient felt he was incapable of coming out of the depression and that he may "do something rash."
Upon admission, the patient continued to state that the depression was "out of control" and that he continued to isolate himself and to shy away from any social interaction. He denied alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse. He stated that the only thing that has made him feel better in the past is interaction and speaking with others such as members of his family; however, recently he has had no motivation or desire to contact anybody.
The patient states hat he sleeps very poorly, especially while he is depressed, and also eats very poorly. He has also been suffering with acid reflux and GERD, and while he is depressed, he discontinues his medication, which results in his regurgitating, so his eating habits continue to deteriorate. The patient states that he continues to "have a lot on his mind," mainly referring to the idea that he may be forced to go back to Iraq.
On Sept. 21, Vanderpool received an order from the Department of the Army, which appears to be an activation order. Attempts to verify whether Vanderpool has been called up again were unsuccessful, as the military refuses to discuss personnel issues. Vanderpool said that the guard base in Long Island confirmed it was an activation order. A public affairs officer with the New York Army National Guard said he has heard of rare occasions when those who have been medically discharged have been recalled for further evaluation because they were deemed to be cured and fit enough to complete the remainder of their service.
Nina Berman is a photographer and the author of Purple Hearts: Back From Iraq.
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I will add this statement from the home page of Veterans For America, at URL http://www.VeteransforAmerica.org/index.cfm
“Veterans for America (VFA), formerly the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, is uniting a new generation of veterans with those from past wars to address the causes, conduct and consequences of war. Together, Veterans offer a crucial perspective when addressing public and political concerns about war in the 21st century.
VFA is deeply concerned about the mounting human and political costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are increasingly distressed with the fact that these wars have emboldened and created unprecedented threats to our national security and that the lack of accountability that we see in these wars is comparable to the war in Vietnam.
As our country begins to openly debate and contemplate further expansion of the “global war on terror”, the need for an informed citizenry to demand political action has never been more urgent. In the coming months, VFA will ask hard questions about how and why America goes to war, who serves, and what is owed to those who serve. We will encourage Congress to engage and reclaim its responsibility to authorize any expansion of war. We will provide new outlets for the voices of returning veterans and we will continue to advocate for the often-forgotten civilian victims of war.”
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11/18/2006, 4:56 am
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Incog4
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Re: M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
Thanks very much, Greg.
I want to mention that on 5/14/2006 I'd "spammed" my same topic to a new thread, titled "Bush is allowing SUICIDAL AND HOMICIDAL men to fight in Iraq!," at
http://com3.runboard.com/btheowlsnest.f14.t167
So in essence, I'd "split-off" 4 Replies, and more than 2,200 of the Page-Views that should rightfully be added to the more than 2,600 racked-up for this thread thus far.
I'll ask that you and the other readers also refer to the linked thread.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Aaron
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11/18/2006, 6:13 am
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Joseph Sarandos
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Re: M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
Greg,
I’m more than glad to see this substantive post from you.
Aaron had been handling most of the Vets-oriented topics here, and, as you can see, I also have been remiss in adding to his threads.
I’ve had this Bloomberg article sitting overlooked in my crowded dektop for months, but as you know I’ve been preoccupied and distracted by my own problems with the VA and other real-life circumstances. However, it is not “outdated” in its content, so I’ll add it now.
Joseph
----------------------------------
Bloombeg
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aLjN12UGOhOM&refer=us
A Third of U.S. Soldiers From Iraq War Seek Mental Health Care
By Rob Waters
Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- A third of U.S. soldiers who returned from the war in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 received mental health treatment within a year of ending their deployment, military researchers reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study showed that soldiers' need for mental health services -- or at least their willingness to admit to a need -- grew after their deployment ended. Soldiers serving in Iraq had higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD, and other mental health problems than those in Afghanistan, where troops were less likely to be involved in combat and see death.
``The more exposure to combat you had, the more likely you are to have mental health problems and to seek mental health services,'' said Col. Charles Milliken, an Army psychiatrist and co-author of the study, in an interview yesterday.
The disorder's prevalence in the three-year-old Iraq war has already matched or exceeded the 31 percent rate from the Vietnam war three decades ago, based on an authoritative study of veterans. Post-traumatic stress disorder is often slow to develop or be recognized. The new finding is fueling criticism of the Bush administration and may further handicap soldier recruitment and retention.
The U.S. government has underfunded the Department of Veterans Affairs and placed too low a priority on mental health services for active and discharged soldiers, said Paul Rieckhoff, a former Army battalion commander in Iraq.
Bush's Priorities
``We need some leadership in Washington to recognize the pending threat of PTSD to veterans and our country as a whole,'' Rieckhoff said in an interview yesterday. He is executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a New York-based advocacy group. ``George Bush doesn't talk about mental health and he doesn't talk about veterans. Veterans' issues are not a big priority for him.''
White House spokeswoman Erin Healy disputed his assertion in an e-mail today and said President George W. Bush has ``increased the budget.'' Bush told the American Legion in Washington Feb. 24 that he has raised funding for veterans' program by $35 billion, or 75 percent, since taking office. ``We have made health care a top priority for my administration,'' Bush said.
The focus on mental health needs and the problems of returning soldiers has its legacy in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, when hundreds of thousands of U.S. veterans returned home scarred by their combat experiences and the controversies over the war that fractured the military and the country. Demand by Vietnam veterans that their trauma be recognized and addressed led to the creation of post-traumatic stress disorder as a new mental health diagnosis.
`Coming Tsunami'
``We've known this was coming for four years,'' said Charles Figley, director of the Traumatology Institute at Florida State University, in an interview yesterday. He said the study signaled a ``coming tsunami of mental health needs'' among soldiers returning from Iraq.
Figley, who became a psychologist after he fought with the Marines in Vietnam, helped lead the effort to gain recognition of the illness. The lessons from Vietnam have helped make military planners more aware of the debilitating effects on warriors of combat, he says.
The macho culture of the military keeps many soldiers from admitting they have problems or seeking help, he and other experts say.
``If only one-third of the soldiers in this survey sought help, that tells you that there are a lot of people who are not getting help,'' said Fred Gusman, director of the Menlo Park, California branch of the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a research and treatment program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in an interview yesterday.
Walter Reed Study
In the new study, Milliken and his colleagues from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, studied routine post-deployment health surveys of nearly 304,000 soldiers conducted in the first few days after they returned from Iraq, Afghanistan and other places. In those early days, only 19 percent of soldiers who served in Iraq and 11 percent of those serving in Afghanistan showed signs of mental health problems.
While requests for mental health services grew over time, the study's numbers probably underestimated the true demand for help, Milliken said, because it didn't include confidential requests for family counseling or assistance from military chaplains.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Waters in San Francisco at rwaters5@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: February 28, 2006 16:00 EST
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11/18/2006, 7:48 am
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Joseph Sarandos
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Re: M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
Bumped to Page 1
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1/4/2007, 9:03 pm
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Incog4
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Re: M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
Here is the very latest reputable report (published today, 3/13/07) on this specific aspect.
Note, as I've boldfaced, that this newly released study covered only vets who'd been admitted and treated at VA hospitals, and only between 2001 and 2005.
We can extrapolate from the given figures, in light of what's been happening since the ground war went all to hell with the onset of the "Iraq Civil War," that the percentages would leap drastically if the study were to include the vets who've been shipped home in 2006 and 2007.
We must also keep in mind that not all vets with mental problems choose to admit and report them because of the "embarrassment factor".
Aaron
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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=65101
A Third Of US War Veterans Returning from Afghanistan and Iraq Have Mental Health Difficulties
13 Mar 2007
A new US study has found that nearly a third of war veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq who were treated by Veterans Affairs (VA) between 2001 and 2005 returned with mental health difficulties.
The study is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the San Francisco VA Medical Center reviewed data collected on 103,788 veterans, half of whom were National Guard or Reserves.
Just over half of the veterans were under the age of 30, with females numbering 13 per cent and minorities around 33 per cent.
Dr Karen H. Seal and colleagues assessed the types of of mental health and psychosocial problems reported in the vets using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-9) clinical modification system designed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
They found that of the total, 32,010 (31 percent) had some form of measurable "mental health problem" when they broadened the definition to include psychosocial behavioural problems as well as mental health.
One quarter, that is 25 per cent (25,658) of the 103,788 veterans who returned from Iraq or Afghanistan to be treated by the VA in the four year period received at least one mental health diagnosis.
Of these 25,658 vets, over half were diagnosed with two or more mental health problems.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was the most common mental health problem, affecting 13,205 vets (52 per cent of the 25,658).
That's just under the 15 per cent figure estimated for Vietnam War vets but it is nearly four times the prevalence in the population at large.
The researchers found "minimal" race and gender effects.
Overall, the younger veterans (18 to 24) were five times more likely to have PTSD than the older ones (40 and over). The researchers suggest this could be because the younger ones tend to be lower rank and have more combat exposure.
Dr Seal and her team suggested this study shows a need to improve the "primary prevention of military service-related mental health disorders, particularly among our youngest service members".
They conclude that "Targeted early detection and intervention beginning in primary care settings are needed to prevent chronic mental illness and disability."
They emphasize that the study only included those Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom vets that were in receipt of VA services and the findings do not necessarily represent all vets who served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
PTSD occurs when someone experiences or witnesses a life-threatening traumatic event and has a prolonged reaction that does not subside. It is characterized by symptoms such as flashbacks, hypervigilance, insomnia, nightmares, and numbness of feelings or emotions. PTSD can also manifest after the event, sometimes years, and is known as delayed PTSD.
In the longer term PTSD can lead to depression, general anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, and/or a range of other physical and mental health problems such as substance abuse, and thinking and memory problems.
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3/13/2007, 9:13 am
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NamVet2
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Re: M-E Wars creating more 'Nam-War type "head cases" among vets.
It's shameful that reports and figures such as these were and are largely ignored by both the government officials and the "talking heads on Sunday T-V," in their discussions about the states of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hopefully, the current revelations and actions relating to and stemming from the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed and other such facilities might also bring this "veterans' mental health" aspect to the fore in the mainstream press, and hopefully that might result in something positive being done about the thousands of mentally disturbed Namvets who are now wandering among the homeless and jobless sector of our population.
Greg
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3/13/2007, 10:02 am
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