More Bundeswehr soldiers coming home with PTSD

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.de/more-bundeswehr-soldiers-coming-home-with-ptsd/a-18249011

As troops return home from the Middle East, more and more of them are being diagnosed with mental disorders. The government says it's because PTSD is less stigmatized. The opposition says not send people to war at all.

More Bundeswehr soldiers coming home with PTSD
11.02.2015

The number of Bundeswehr soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological illnesses has increased by 25.6 percent in the past 12 months, according to a news report published Tuesday. There were 204 soldiers were diagnosed in 2014, 55 more cases that the previous year.

This brings the total number of returning soldiers receiving treatment for PTSD, depression, and anxiety issues up to 431 as Germany pulls its troops out of Afghanistan, according to German daily Berliner Zeitung, which said it had seen a new Bundeswehr report on psychological trauma among troops.

Anti-war opposition

"War makes you sick," said Christine Buchholz, the opposition Left party's spokeswoman for defense policy, in response the numbers. The best way to prevent these disorders is not to send citizens to war, she told the paper.

Agnieszka Brugger, the Green party's expert on security, said the increasing cases of traumatized soldiers illustrate the long-term consequences for the individual soldier deployed overseas. The process of recognizing cases and getting soldiers the help they need must be accelerated, Brugger advised, including those who have left the Bundeswehr after returning from deployment.