[Peace-discuss] Stress Disorder Seen Soaring Among Returning Troops

[Robert Naiman]

Stress Disorder Seen Soaring Among Returning Troops
David Goldstein, Knight Ridder, Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The Department of Veterans Affairs is on a pace to see nearly 20,000
new cases of post-combat stress this year among service members who've
served in Iraq or Afghanistan, more than six times the number of cases
that officials had expected.

The latest report on patient visits to VA medical facilities shows
that nearly 5,000 service members were initially diagnosed with
post-traumatic stress disorder during the first three months of this
year, on top of nearly 5,000 new diagnoses that the VA had reported
for the last three months of 2005.

The VA had predicted that it would see 2,900 new cases in fiscal 2006,
which runs from Oct. 1, 2005, to Sept. 30, 2006.

The VA declined to comment Monday.

"The demand for mental health is not going down," said Cathy Wiblemo,
the deputy director for mental health services at the American Legion.
"It's definitely going up."

Knight Ridder reported last month that the VA had dramatically
underestimated the number of service members who would return from
Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The new report drew immediate criticism from some in Congress.

"Frankly, I don't think that VA's budget planned for this number of
new veterans with mental health concerns," Rep. Michael Michaud,
D-Maine, a member of the House Veteran's Affairs Committee, said in a
statement.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that can cause
serious psychiatric and social problems. Combat, a plane crash or
other traumatic experiences can trigger it. Untreated, it can lead to
drug addiction, homelessness and other social problems.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been particularly stressful
because they involve urban warfare amid civilians who are hard to
distinguish from the enemy. There are no front lines or safe areas,
and the enemy uses improvised bombs and ambushes.

A statement from the Democratic members of the House VA Committee said
that even as the number of post-traumatic stress disorder cases
increased, the VA had cut back the number of PTSD therapy sessions for
veterans by 25 percent in the last 10 years.

In a related issue, the Government Accountability Office recently
found that the Pentagon didn't seek further mental-health treatment
for eight out of 10 soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan who
showed signs of post-combat stress.

William Winkenwerder Jr., the assistant secretary of defense for
health affairs, responded that the GAO report was "flawed."

--
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org