Links between PTSD, substance abuse explored,,dah!

I'm really sorry but I can't help myself,,,,,dah! They've had over thirty years to notice this....It's called self-medicating and has been documented since the Vietnam Veterans came home!

Links between PTSD, substance abuse explored
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jan 7, 2009 18:20:34 EST

At a two-day conference for civilian and military researchers, doctors produced one idea after another for treating and preventing substance abuse in service members with post-traumatic stress disorder.

As the ideas bounced from person to person, they tried to tie them together in ways that could make sense in a military setting: They must be accessible to many people at once, they must be cheap, they must be proven, and they must be easy.

And they must be immediate.

About 20 percent of service members say they’ve had a few drinks and then driven a vehicle, Richard Keller, a researcher for the U.S. Army Battlemind behavioral health program, said at the conference, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuise.

The drinking, he said, also leads to domestic violence and fights, “particularly with our younger crowd.”

The military also is seeing 20 suicides per 100,000 people.

“Every Brigade Combat Team commander can expect one suicide per year,” Keller said.

Research has shown that alcohol can contribute to suicides because it makes people impulsive.

Roger Roffman, professor at the school of social work at the University of Washington, talked about an intervention that’s not as invasive as checking into a substance abuse program — in fact, it doesn’t even force a person to change, only to take a look at his or her habits. click link for more