American Legion: Treatment for PTSD and TBI 'limited and inadequate'

Legion: Treatment for PTSD and TBI 'limited and inadequate'
Navy Times
By Patricia Kime
Staff writer
October 2, 2013

The nation’s largest veterans group says the Veterans Affairs Department and Pentagon are not doing enough to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Calling current medical protocols and treatments at VA and DoD “limited and inadequate,” the American Legion urged the two departments to provide more non-pharmaceutical care and invest research dollars in complementary and alternative medical therapies such as acupuncture, yoga and biofeedback.

In a new report, a seven-member Legion committee largely found that DoD and VA have “no well-defined approach to the treatment of TBI” and veterans who seek care at VA for PTSD are 2½ times more likely to be prescribed opioid pain medications than those experiencing chronic pain.

“The fact that there is an emphasis on drugs as opposed to other treatments, that these guys and gals are going in there with issues and the answer is to prescribe them drugs, is incredible. There are alternatives,” said William Detweiler, chairman of the panel that drafted the report, titled “The War Within,” and a past national commander of the American Legion.
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