Why the IOM has found so much PTSD in Gulf War Vets

Why the IOM has found so much PTSD in Gulf War Vets
April 15, 2010 posted by Bob Higgins ·


By Jim Bunker National Gulf War Resource Center

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently concluded that there is sufficient evidence of a causal relationship for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Persian Gulf War (PGW) veterans that would in turn explain their other physical ailments. What a slap in the face. When you look at only a select handful of research studies and discount most others, you can no doubt make a convincing case for PTSD as the primary cause of Gulf War Illnesses (GWI). Veterans from today’s wars as well as the 1991 Persian Gulf War know better. All one needs to do in order to find the truth is to use the internet.

The truth is, for the first 15 years after the PGW the VA focused primarily on PTSD, pushing the belief that that’s what was wrong with us. This is how it’s been for years. When the VA doctors don’t understand something new they write it off as a psychosomatic illness. In other words, they’re telling us that it’s all in our heads. Yes, some of us do have PTSD. Every time men and women have gone to war some have come home with PTSD. Sadly, some even legitimately develop PTSD from having to fight with the VA to gain access to the benefits they earned through their service and sacrifice. These battles between the veteran and the VA continue to this day with not only our PGW veterans, but with our OEF and OIF veterans as well. I just talked to a fellow PGW veteran and he is still having problems with the doctors at the VA in Houston, Texas. Whenever he brings up GWIs, they tell him there is “no such thing”.
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Why the IOM has found so much PTSD in Gulf War Vets