Veterans' Mental Health Needs Intensify (PTSD and Iraq Veterans News)

[Maddy McCall]

Vets' Mental Health Needs Intensify
Monday, April 03, 2006
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos


WASHINGTON — Blaming what they say is a shortsighted, under-funded system that does not learn from past mistakes, some advocacy groups say they are concerned that the federal government is unprepared to help the wave of troops returning from Iraq seeking mental health care.

"We should have been ready for this," said Steve Robinson, director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a veterans advocacy organization. "It's simple math: If there is an increase in demand, and there is not an equal increase in dollars to hire new people to buy more equipment or provide more services, the person who suffers is the returning veteran."

He and other critics point to recent Army statistics indicating that 35 percent of soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq sought mental health care and 19 percent were diagnosed with a mental disorder like post traumatic stress disorder, depression or anxiety within a year of coming home.

"The high rate of using mental health services among Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans after deployment highlights challenges in ensuring that there are adequate resources to meet the mental health needs of returning veterans," reads the study, published by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the March 1 Journal of the American Medical Association.

....

"How loudly we cheered them onward as they laced up their boots has no relevance once they've done their job," said I.L. Meagher (editor of PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within). "It's how well we took care of them when they return that really defines our true moral character."


More at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190396,00.html
(Sorry that it's Fox...but keep reading the rest of these articles, please.)

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PRESS RELEASE: New Bipartisan Mental Health Caucus Announced by U.S. Senators Domenici, Kennedy, Smith and Harkin

Members of President's New Freedom Commission Reconvene on Capitol Hill; Mental Health Groups Honor Rosalynn Carter, Sen. Smith, Rep. Kennedy


WASHINGTON, April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Senators Pete V. Domenici (R-NM), Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Gordon H. Smith (R-OR) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) have announced establishment of a Senate Caucus on Mental Health Reform.

The Senate Caucus, intended to increase national awareness of mental health issues, was announced in conjunction with a March 29, 2006 meeting on Capitol Hill of former members of the President's 2002-03 New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. The reconvening was sponsored by the Campaign for Mental Health Reform (CMHR), a coalition of 16 national mental health organizations, and included panels on: (1) mental health needs of returning veterans; (2) suicide as a national priority; and (3) mental health in the workplace.

According to CMHR, more than one-third of veterans returning from Iraq are seeking mental health treatment; 30,000 American lives are lost each year to suicide -- a largely preventable public health problem; and as much as $105 billion each year is lost in economic productivity due to mental illness.

The mental health commissioners heard from leading experts, including Dr. Frances Murphy of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA); Dr. Ileana Arias of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention; and Dr. Ron Finch, of the National Business Group on Health; as well as Stefanie Pelkey, who shared the tragedy of losing her husband Captain Michael Pelkey, an Iraq veteran, to a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); and a college student, Marley Prunty-Lara, who survived early onset bipolar disorder and a suicide attempt to become a leading national advocate for mental health reform.

snip/

Dr. Murphy noted "(T)he numbers of veterans seeking VA care for behavioral health conditions is rapidly increasing. For example VA reports a 30% increase in PTSD diagnoses....(Recent data) suggest that current estimates of utilization of healthcare services including mental health and substance abuse...may be significantly higher than originally estimated." Joy Ilem, of the Disabled American Veterans, concluded that "VA must be sufficiently funded to treat newly returning veterans with mental health issues without displacing older veterans with chronic mental illnesses."

Ms. Pelkey told commissioners that "although PTSD is evident in (her husband's) medical records...the Army has chosen to rule Michael's death a suicide without documenting this serious illness....He is a casualty of war....He came home from war with an injured mind....There are so many soldiers suffering from this disorder and so many families suffering the aftermath....(G)ive our Armed Forces the...funding they need to take care of our soldiers. I don't want my Michael to have died in vain."

Much more at: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-03-2006/0004332664&EDATE=

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Remember the "Marlboro Marine?" Even that tough guy is facing down the monsters of PTSD.

..."The more and more I talk to (other guys), the more I found out there were a lot of Marines that are going through same or similar emotions. It's tough to deal with. Being in Iraq is something no one wants to talk about."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/03/earlyshow/main1174711.shtml
Jan. 2006 articles related to "Marlboro Marine" Blake Miller included in this LBN thread to demonstrate how PTSD affects returning soldiers.

..."But when it comes out and there's actually a personality behind that picture, and that personality, he has to deal with all the war, and all he's done, people don't want to know how hard it actually is," his wife Jessica said.

"This is the dark side of the reality of war. ... People don't want to know the Marlboro Man has PTSD."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/29/MNGMHGVCEV1.DTL

As noted on truthout http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/printer_020206O.shtml , Miller has turned against the war for which he once was an icon.

Then:


Now:

[autorank]

1. PTSD mimics so many other problems, this is just tragic...

...although expected based on everything we know so far.

PTSD looks like major depression, anxiety, attention deficit, mania, and more. It also makes any physical ailments worse.

Ultimately, PTSD is a crisis of meaning when the infliction of trauma is intentional, which is always is in war (as opposed to a natural disaster). One need for veterans is a treatment system that's free of politics and that allows them to address any subject and talk about anything. This is vital.

I hope the troops get all the help they need. The and their families deserve it.

Great post.

[midnight]

5. Free of politics.

That should be the health care motto!!!!

[EFerrari]

2. Our mental health system is already virtually nonexistent.

These people will not get the care they need. There will be suicides and homicides and it all will be needless. The numbers will continue to be staggering.

No one is paying attention.

[pecwae]

3. And the V.A.

is likewise screwed up. I wish everyone could experience this 'system' just once to see what's in store for the returning military. Just a walk through the halls of any V.A. can give one a feel for it. I'm a vet and a retired V.A. employee and have seen both sides; it's shameful!

[saigon68]

4. They (the system) will screw them

The SAME way it screwed us.

[LosinIt]

7. and continues to screw Vietnam Vets

my husband is trying to get his 100% disability rating from the VA. He spent a month inpatient for PTSD treatment. The psychiatrists there rated him as chronic severe PTSD 100% disabled, unemployable. So we sent in the papers to have his rating (and compensation) changed from 30% to 100%. After 5 months they wrote back and said that while he was rated that by the doctors there, he was seen at the clinic and he was engaged in conversation, lucid and cheerful. His rating will remain at 30%. They can diagnose just like Frist! Bastards.

[saigon68]

8. As a Veteran's Service Officer I see this everyday

I see the VA Screw Disabled Veterans all the time.

The saying among US is

USED UP THROWN AWAY.

BUSH IS IN THE PROCESS OF CUTTING BENEFITS TO PAY FOR HIS HANDOUTS FOR HALLIBURTON WAR

[EFerrari]

9. The more vulnerable you are, the less likely you will be helped.

L.A.'s biggest mental health care clinic should be shut down before they kill someone.

It's a national disgrace.

[midnight]

6. Our health care system has been operating in the red.

By this I mean supplies, staffing, research,and I'm sure many other areas. Possibly we could delete building any new buildings,and focus on staffing them better.