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Iraq and Mental Health

By TChris, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Fri Jul 29, 2005 at 09:49:29 AM EST
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by TChris

Death and physical impairment are not the only consequences that befall our soldiers in Iraq. Many who return with no physical harm have nonetheless been damaged.

Thirty percent of U.S. troops surveyed have developed stress-related mental health problems three to four months after coming home from the Iraq war, the Army's surgeon general said Thursday. The survey of 1,000 troops found problems including anxiety, depression, nightmares, anger and an inability to concentrate, said Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley and other military medical officials. A smaller number of troops, often with more severe symptoms, were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a serious mental illness.

...

The 30 percent figure is in contrast to the 3 percent to 5 percent diagnosed with a significant mental health issues immediately after they leave the war theater, according to Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a military psychiatrist on Kiley's staff.

Among the many costs of this unnecessary war:

[S]such reactions can lead to problems with spouses and children, substance abuse and just day-to-day life, [military medical officials] said.

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    • Iraq and Mental Health | 14 comments (14 topical)
    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#1)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    Lazy journalism. What are the rates among the general population? Not that I can discount the issue entirely. Every combat vet I've ever met (not many) was changed by the experience one way or another.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#2)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    Not the general public (I'm lazy too), but Detroit: lifetime prevalence of PTSD among "a random sample of 1007 young adults from a large health maintenance organization in the Detroit, Mich, area": 9.2% Perhaps Detroit teens should enlist so they can go to Iraq and relax.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#3)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    This is no secret. Many of our Vietnam vets came home with mental health issues as well. It's another sacrifice that our soldiers make to defend our country and another reason they should be honored for their bravery. Our government seems to not consider this factor when sending our youngsters off to fight in wars (whether we should be fighting them or not). The mental health issue should be one of our main concerns when deploying soldiers to fight for their country.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#4)
    by John Mann on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    When teenagers are trained and sent off to kill people for no good reason, I'd be a lot more surprised if they didn't come home with mental health problems.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    Roy's misses the point. The point of the article is not the resulting rate, but that the immediate rate doesn't match the TENFOLD increase within one month. That suggests that the initial appraisals are insufficient. But, then again, Ronald Dumbsfeld broke the law which required him to do baseline medical tests BEFORE deploying any soldier. He passed out a questionaire, which is not a medical test. And broke the law -- not his first act of defiance of law.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#6)
    by TKindlon on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    Please allow me to contribute to this discussion. I am a wounded combat vet, a former "grunt" Sgt, USMC,who served in Vietnam, 1967-1968. Medically retired as a result of my wounds in 1968. I think I know whereof I speak. Modern combat is shockingly brutal, completely outside normal experience, enormously traumatic, it stays with you forever and--for the survivors--it can be a crushing psychological burden for years after the shooting stops. When I left the military I was treated very well by the VA (unlike the current crop of wounded and disabled veterans, who are being treated very badly by an underfunded, soulless federal bureacracy that has obviously lost its way) and, as a result, I was provided with good medical care and the education necessary to become a criminal defense lawyer. Throughout the '70's and '80's, as payback, I devoted a large part of my practice to representing Vietnam combat veterans, many of whom were suffering from the horrors of PTSD. One of the more troubling aspects of representing those guys (and as a consequence of the current misguided war, we're now going to be mass producing PTSD-afflicted women along with PTSD-afflicted men)was the complete lack of sympathy, indeed, the contempt, they encountered from all of the folks in the criminal justice system who'd "had other priorities" during the 60's that had prevented them from going to Vietnam and from experiencing combat first hand. I don't know if a new generation of PTSD afflicted veterans is going to be the final insult of the Bush administration, but I do know that combat-related PTSD is a monstrous problem and that we had best be getting ourselves ready to deal--appropriately and respectfully--with those poor souls who have already given so much, and who, in the future, will still be suffering. Whether you like the war or not--and I hate it with all my heart and soul--we need to understand how really, really important it is to take good care of our military veterans. Terry Kindlon

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#7)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    The point of the article is not the resulting rate, but that the immediate rate doesn't match the TENFOLD increase within one month.
    I'm not ignoring that important point, just complaining that more context is needed to understand the issue. Consider two situations (contrived example alert): 1: Soldiers in Iraq are have a way-below-average incidence of stress-related mental health problems because the military has effective programs in place to address their needs. When they come home, they no longer have access to those programs, and they develop mental health problems at about the average rate. 2: Soldiers in Iraq have elevated incidence of stress-related mental health problems for the obvious reasons. When they come home, their experiences sink in, and they develop problems at way way above the average rate. Either situation would fit the figures cited by the article. Disambiguation would be very helpful, because each dicates a different course of action. I suspect that a journalist has access to the research to disambiguate. This journalist didn't bother. I suspect the truth is closer to example #2 than to #1, but if a journalist is going to throw numbers around he ought to be a better job of it.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#8)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    Terry, Thank you for sharing your experience. Some of what you said is echoed by the writer Christopher Hedges. The military began to recognize PTSD (then called "shell shock") as a problem during WWII. They realized that the longer that soldiers remained in combat situtations the more likely they were to develop PTSD. As a result, the Army began to limit the amount of time that soldiers had to serve out in the field. That is why, as Christopher Hedges has pointed out, "One of the disturbing things about this war is that, because they are so short on numbers, they are treating people for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and then sending them back into combat situations." You can't help but think that this is not a good thing.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#9)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:44 PM EST
    Roy, it is not the jounalist's responsibility to anticipate your ludicrous hypotheses. If you are going to suggest that
    Soldiers in Iraq are have a way-below-average incidence of stress-related mental health problems because the military has effective programs in place to address their needs
    then it is up to you to provide evidence to support this, not the journalist. It is an awful, and very real consequence of war that soldiers become severely traumatized and have difficulties adjusting to normal life afterwards. The parent rightly mentions the consequences that this has for others: Spousal abuse, for example, is one. And we should not forget the mental health of the Iraqi civilians, whose country was occupied with overwhelming violence. They didn't even volunteer for the war.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:45 PM EST
    Terry, I would also like to personally thank you for your sacrifice. What I feel about the validity of the Vietnam war is not important. What is important is that you personally put your ass on the line in ways that not one of the members of this Admin has ever done. You are a true man and I wish you all the best in life! Keep fighting the good fight and remember that there are plenty of liberals out there that stand with you!

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:45 PM EST
    Roy, continuing to blame the reporter for the failure of the War Criminal Secretary's policies: "1: When they come home, they no longer have access to those programs, and they develop mental health problems at about the average rate." Hilarious. Those would be AMAZINGLY effective therapy programs! Withdraw these wonderful handholding sessions, and the soldiers fly to pieces. "2: When they come home, their experiences sink in, and they develop problems at way way above the average rate." Again, the suggestion that it takes a month to get those results is absurd. Most PTSD has a two-year symptom onset, which is why the REDUCTION of post-combat care by the Bush "I Hate the Vets" VA is so cruel. Since they only now get 2 years military care before being rejected to the VA, the PTSD falls on them JUST when they want to stand in line for six months to get an appointment. The obvious point is that the military is COVERING UP the illnesses of returning soldiers, and that a later survey PROVES that. Commandeer-in-Chief George, and probably CrimSecState Don, haven't been to a single military funeral. Screw the orphans, full speed ahead! And when you come back screwed to back of your skull's fatal memories, cheer up! We told you it was going to be hard. Quit interrupting our vacations -- we're busy counting the cash we made off your BLOOD.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:45 PM EST
    Oops, got the CrimSecs confused. This one is Criminal Sec of NO Defense on 9i1. CrimSecState Rice was not involved -- either now or then. An expert on national security, she was home brooding about a broken nail on her Chow during the national crisis. Apparently it ran into her stack of unread NatSec briefings.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#13)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:45 PM EST
    Learned something new today, "contrived example alert" doesn't do squat.

    Re: Iraq and Mental Health (none / 0) (#14)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:45 PM EST
    Roy, your "contrived example alert" is redundant. People can smell. And of course, contrived or not, you were trying to use it to refute the study's findings, so it's fair game.

    Iraq and Mental Health | 14 comments (14 topical)