A Flood of Troubled Soldiers Is in the Offing, Experts Predict

[BeyondGeography]

By SCOTT SHANE
The New York Times

Published: December 16, 2004

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - The nation's hard-pressed health care system for veterans is facing a potential deluge of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq with serious mental health problems brought on by the stress and carnage of war, veterans' advocates and military doctors say.

An Army study shows that about one in six soldiers in Iraq report symptoms of major depression, serious anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, a proportion that some experts believe could eventually climb to one in three, the rate ultimately found in Vietnam veterans. Because about one million American troops have served so far in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Pentagon figures, some experts predict that the number eventually requiring mental health treatment could exceed 100,000.

"There's a train coming that's packed with people who are going to need help for the next 35 years," said Stephen L. Robinson, a 20-year Army veteran who is now the executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, an advocacy group. Mr. Robinson wrote a report in September on the psychological toll of the war for the Center for American Progress, a Washington research group.

"I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of this war," said Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, who served as the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs from 1994 to 1997.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/national/16stress.html?oref=login&hp&ex=1103173200&en=44f9d8b94e5d07cd&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Comment: This aspect of the war is finaly getting some real coverage; front-page story in the Times and Nightline is dedicating their program tonight to PTSD; it's on right now.

[teryang]

1. This is so predictable

But draconian employment practices and inflexible undermanned VA clinics will make treatment access almost impossible for many. Who cares as long as defense contractors have another 100 billion a year.