Percentage of veterans with mental health problems jumps dramatically

This is stunning! Not that the numbers have increased this high, but that the VA still to this day does not understand it! That's the most stunning part of all.

The pamphlet I always refer to (over on the side bar of this blog) states clearly that most veterans will not seek help, realize they have a problem needing to be addressed until a year after they came home. This was about information known in 1978. For Heaven's sake will these people ever get it?

It has nothing to do with support or lack of support for the campaign itself. The troops are supported by the American public. This is clear and in direct response to the deplorable mistakes we made with the Vietnam veterans. The other known factor is the redeployments, which according to the Army's study, increases the risk of PTSD by 50%. Then you have the fact of the rate of traumatic events in Iraq and now being repeated in Afghanistan.

Think of it this way. I have no degree in mental health. I've just been paying attention for longer than most others have. If I could figure out in 2001 the number of Vietnam veterans needing help would increase after 9-11, they should have been able to as well. The trauma of 9-11 caused a secondary stressor to the extreme for Vietnam veterans to the point where even if they didn't understand what PTSD was, they would not be able to deny they needed help. They knew the flashbacks and nightmares were all about Vietnam so they sought help. The Internet played a role in all of this as well as more and more reports about PTSD came out. This was only the beginning of what I saw coming. After Afghanistan was invaded followed by Iraq, it was obvious that the numbers would mimic what we saw after Vietnam. Then came the Army study about redeployments and it was not that hard to figure out what the numbers would be. This is no surprise. Within the next two years were going to be seeing a million new veterans needing help with PTSD, that is if too many more don't commit suicide before the VA helps them.

I have a feeling we're very close to seeing those numbers sooner instead of later because of how little has been done to treat it right after they're involved in the events that will change their lives.

Percentage of veterans with mental health problems jumps dramatically
1:00 PM, July 16, 2009
Jia-Rui Chong

About 37% of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have mental health problems, a nearly 50% increase from the last time the prevalence was calculated, according to a new study published today analyzing national Department of Veterans Affairs data.

The study, which examined the records of about 289,000 veterans who sought care at the VA between 2002 and 2008, also found higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

“What’s really striking is the dramatic acceleration in mental health diagnoses, particularly PTSD, after the beginning of the conflict in Iraq,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Karen Seal, a staff physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and an assistant professor at UC San Francisco.

The researchers said they could not pinpoint the exact causes of the increase, but suggested: “Waning public support and lower morale among troops may predispose returning veterans to mental health problems, as occurred during the Vietnam era.”
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Now think of this,,,,

Post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD (P-T-S-D), is an acquired mental condition that manifests itself following a psychologically distressing event outside the range of normal human experience. This disorder presumes that the person experienced a traumatic event or events involving actual or threatened death or injury to themselves or others, such as violence, abuse, or during a war.
Post-traumatic stress disorder