VA steps up effort to educate families on stress disorders

VA steps up effort to educate families on stress disorders
By Suzanne Bohan, STAFF WRITER
Article Created: 03/24/2008 02:34:33 AM PDT


PACIFICA — With roughly one in five soldiers or Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan developing post-traumatic stress disorder, and many of them remaining untreated, family members are the target for educational outreach by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I think it's crucial for (military) family members to be aware of the potential mental health problems of their loved ones," said Dr. Byron J. Wittlin, director of mental health services at the VA's San Bruno clinic.

As part of an emerging emphasis on training family members to spot signs of the disorder, Wittlin spoke Thursday evening to a group from the Pacifica Military Moms, a chapter of the national organization, The Blue Star Mothers of America.

Debbie Smyser, co-founder of the Pacifica group and a trainer at Genentech in South San Francisco, has a 21-year-old son in Iraq. Some members of the group also have offspring in Iraq or Afghanistan, and Smyser said they wanted to be prepared to help them if they return with mental distress.

"We need to know what to recognize, in case we need to get them help," she said. "It's just to make us aware and what signs to lookfor."

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is nothing new, emphasized Wittlin. It's a condition plaguing humans for millennia that now has a new name.

"It's been around for thousands of years," he told the group. "As long as there's been war, as long as there's been trauma." In World War II, the condition was called "shell shock," Wittlin added.
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