Awareness key as soldiers return home

Awareness key as soldiers return home
Natchaug Hospital spreading word on mental health hurdles

By Judy Benson Published on 6/11/2009



New London - Of the 1.5 million soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, an estimated 5 to 10 percent have mild traumatic brain injury, and up to 60 percent of those also have post-traumatic stress disorder.

Navy psychiatrist Dr. Craig Martin recited those statistics Wednesday to impress on his audience the need for families, communities, mental health professionals and servicemen themselves to understand and recognize these conditions so those affected can get help.

Martin, who treats patients at a seven-month-old clinic at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton for servicemen after deployment from throughout the Northeast, included those figures in a talk on traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder to a roomful of Natchaug Hospital staff, board members and hospital supporters at the mental health hospital's 55th annual meeting Wednesday at the Coast Guard Academy. Located in Mansfield, with satellite outpatient facilities throughout the region, Natchaug provides mental health services to adults and children from throughout Eastern Connecticut.
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There are over 20 videos that I've made on PTSD. There are two I would like you to watch to help you understand this. You can watch them direct from Great Americans or on the sidebar of this blog.

This is one of the first videos I made. The only difference between then and now is the numbers are a lot higher.

Wounded Minds Veterans and PTSD (27:35) The wound of PTSD is not new. It has been documented since the start of recorded history under different names, but the result is the same.

PTSD I Grieve (8:39) National Guards men and women are reporting with PTSD at 50%. Most of them return to the police force or fire departments

If you want to really know about PTSD, try to find a little over half and hour to learn what it took me over 25 years to learn. I made it easy for you.