Elusive threats boost PTSD risk in Afghanistan

Elusive threats boost PTSD risk in Afghanistan
Updated Sat. Nov. 8 2008 10:23 AM ET

Stefania Moretti, CTV.ca News

Canadian troops fighting in Afghanistan are up against two dangerous adversaries. The first, the elusive enemy; the second, the less-tangible threat of mental breakdown.

Indeed, new studies suggest soldiers deployed to Afghanistan are more likely to suffer from mental illness because of the high degree of uncertainty that characterizes the NATO-led mission.



Traditionally, wars have been fought on the front lines of the battlefield with an identifiable enemy in uniform. But in Afghanistan, the enemy is "elusive," said one mental health expert. Threat can come from anywhere.

Afghanistan has been described as a 360-degree war with virtually no safe zone.

Suicide bombers dressed in civilian garb, improvised explosive devices strewn across the treacherous "Highway of Death" connecting Kabul and Kandahar and entire communities surrounded by deadly land mines means soldiers face around-the-clock danger.

As a result, Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are likely at higher risk of developing post-traumatic disorder than their comrades serving in other missions, Dr. Alain Brunet, of the Douglas Research Centre and McGill University, recently told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from Montreal.

British troops sent to Afghanistan last year were nine times more likely to suffer from PTSD, according to that country's Ministry of Defence in a study released this month. Most British troops are stationed in Helmand province -- a less volatile region than Canadians stationed in the Taliban hotbed of Kandahar province.

As many as 28 per cent of troops come back from armed combat with one or more mental health issues, according to data complied by the head of the Canadian military's deployment health section last year. Of those:

seventeen per cent exhibited signs of high-risk drinking
five per cent showed symptoms of PTSD
five per cent had signs of serious depression
Since the mission in Afghanistan began in 2002, the number of Veterans Affairs members with a PTSD condition has more than tripled, up from roughly 1,800 to 6,500, according to a Veterans Affairs briefing note obtained by The Canadian Press in March. Veterans Affairs expect the numbers will continue to climb with troops scheduled to stay until at least 2011.
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