Australian Troops Fear of "Career Suicide" Seeking Outside Care for PTSD

ADF personnel seek PTSD treatment in secrecy to avoid 'career suicide', members say
ABC News Australia
Exclusive by Alexandra Fisher
Updated earlier today at 1:13am

"You're almost alienated from the system ... you can't go to work, you can't drive a vehicle, can't carry a weapon."

Key points:
ADF members say they speak to mental health professionals outside the Department
Talking about mental illness could jeopardise worker's career, members say
ADF says reporting mental illness ensures members are provided with proper support

Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel are being treated in secret for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions to avoid jeopardising their careers, according to serving and former members.

James (not his real name) has just recently retired from a 25-year career in the Australian Army and said he never told the ADF he had PTSD.

"I'd go and speak to professionals outside of Defence," he said.

"I'd go see a psychologist and talk to them about what was wrong."

The ADF told the ABC in a statement that members were required to tell them if they were being treated outside the ADF system.

But James said if he spoke up about his mental illness, he risked his career.
read more here

Troop hospitalizations show mental toll of war

Troop hospitalizations show mental toll of war
By WYATT OLSON
Stars and Stripes
Published: July 1, 2012

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Hospitalizations of troops with mental disorders such as suicidal or homicidal intent and debilitating psychosis reached a 10-year high in 2011, underscoring the mental and emotional toll of America’s dual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center says 13,133 servicemembers were treated as inpatients last year for mental disorders, the top reason for hospitalization of active-duty troops. That was up from 10,706 in 2007.

The total number of hospitalizations for mental disorders in 2011 was about 21,700, suggesting that many patients were treated more than once, based on annual data from a recently released Medical Surveillance Monthly Report.

The number of visits for outpatient mental health treatment has also ballooned, almost doubling from just under 1 million in 2007 to about 1.89 million in 2011, the report revealed.

The number of hospitalizations is almost certainly higher because it does not include inpatient treatment of mental disorders during deployments or field training exercises, or on ships at sea.
read more here

Psychiatric Center patients warned of hepatitis risk

Patients treated at Rockland Psychiatric Center warned of hepatitis risk
BY JANE LERNER • JLERNER@LOHUD.COM • FEBRUARY 16, 2011

ORANGEBURG — At least one patient contracted hepatitis B at Rockland Psychiatric Center and state officials are testing hundreds more to see if anyone else was infected, possibly through the use of a blood-sample lancing device.

The state Department of Health issued an advisory Tuesday so anyone who was treated at the hospital at the same time as the patient who contracted the disease would get tested.

All 229 people who might have been exposed to blood-borne diseases while they were at the state-run psychiatric center have been identified and contacted, said Jill Daniels, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Mental Health.

Blood tests are being done on those people to see if they were infected with hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV while they were at the Rockland hospital. No other cases have been identified yet, Daniels said.

The Rockland Psychiatric Center advisory was the second time in a week that the state warned patients who had been treated at a hospital that they might have contracted a blood-borne disease.

Patients treated at a pain management clinic run by South Nassau Communities Hospital on Long Island were warned that they might have been exposed to hepatitis C.
read more here
Psychiatric Center warned of hepatitis risk

L.A. County mental health chief says he will try to rely less on police

L.A. County mental health chief says he will try to rely less on police

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:35:14 AM

Marvin J. Southard's office can't force crowded hospitals to accept its emergency patients, so it sends them to law enforcers who can. He tells county supervisors he's looking for other options.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske
November 26, 2008
Los Angeles County's chief mental health official said Tuesday that he is working to reduce the number of times his staff forwards emergency assistance calls involving the mentally ill to police, a practice that has grown over the last year as fewer hospital beds have been available to treat such patients.

Marvin J. Southard, called before the Board of Supervisors after news reports highlighted the problem, told the board he is in talks with county health officials to find better options.

"This issue is really an issue of indigent care at the county hospitals," Southard told Supervisor Mike Antonovich during questioning. "We contract with private hospitals to provide indigent care, but there are some patients only county hospitals will accept."

Mental health workers have increasingly turned to law enforcement officials to handle emergency calls because hospitals are required by law to take emergency mental health patients transported by police. If a county mental health worker brings people in for treatment, facilities are not compelled to accept them.

As of last month, there were 2,562 beds available for mental health patients in Los Angeles County, records show, and only about 200 of them were at county hospitals, which are required to admit poor and uninsured patients.
click link for more

Bipolar illness linked with abnormal genes

Bipolar illness linked with abnormal genes
Published: Aug. 18, 2008 at 11:30 AM

BOSTON, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- A team of U.S.-led scientists says it has found genetic abnormalities that balance sodium and calcium in brain cells linked with bipolar disease.

Researchers said they made the discovery during the largest genetic analysis of its kind to date for bipolar disorder. They found the association between the disorder and variation in two genes. The genes make components of channels that manage the flow of the elements into and out of cells, including neurons.
go here for more

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/08/18
/Bipolar_illness_linked_with_abnormal_genes/UPI-53921219073400/