Mental health care hit and miss, troops say

Mental health care hit and miss, troops say

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Mar 16, 2008 8:28:34 EDT

Service members told Congress Friday that mental health care for post-traumatic stress disorder is good — if they can get it.

In one case, a suicidal soldier asked for help and got it. In another, a soldier deployed to Iraq asked for help, and when he didn’t get it, he killed himself.

While military surgeons general told the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee about new programs designed to provide a safety net to catch troops with mental disorders, they also talked about issues that still must be addressed — recruiting and retaining mental health providers, ensuring leaders understand suicide, and finding proper treatment for PTSD.

“I think we are grappling with this about as hard as we can,” said S. Ward Casscells, assistant defense secretary for health affairs. He said the Defense Department is working to improve screening, implementing more resiliency training — teaching troops to be mentally strong as well as physically strong — and figuring out how to define and treat PTSD.

“Treatment is a struggle,” Casscells said. “We don’t know very well what treatments work.”
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