1,000 OEF OIF veterans diagnosed weekly with PTSD

Military playing catch-up on PTSD
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
April 3, 2014

Even as a soldier diagnosed with mental illness opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, this week, a river of troubled veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars keeps flowing out of the military, according to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Pentagon's struggle to cope with war's invisible wounds is certain to intensify after the revelation that the gunman, Spc. Ivan Lopez, was suffering depression and anxiety and was being examined for signs of post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq in 2011.

Lopez killed three soldiers Wednesday and injured 16 other people before taking his own life in a parking lot at the post.

About 1,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war era are diagnosed each week with post-traumatic stress disorder and more than 800 with depression, according to VA statistics.

The Pentagon said Thursday that more than 155,000 U.S. troops have PTSD and that more than three-quarters of them are combat veterans.
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