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December 26, 2005Experts: New PTSD cases will ‘overwhelm’ country
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
Mental health and military family policy experts warn of what one called a “tsunami” of woe ahead because the federal government is ill-prepared to cope with post-traumatic stress problems among returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.
“We are, as a country, going to be overwhelmed, totally overwhelmed,” said Charles Figley, director of the Florida State University Traumatology Institute and an expert on war-related mental stress.
Post-traumatic stress disorder has been a concern of the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs since studies last year found about 18 percent of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and 11 percent of those returning from Afghanistan are reporting mental health problems. This is higher than PTSD levels reported among Vietnam War veterans.
At a Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by Democrats on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, the government received praise for the counseling and treatment being provided to service members and veterans but was faulted for not being prepared to help families.
Treating PTSD as a family problem was the main purpose of the Dec. 8 briefing, as Democrats try to get bipartisan support for a bill that would increase access to family therapists for veterans and their families. The bill, HR 1588, has 102 co-sponsors. Only three are Republicans.
“We commit a serious disservice to veterans and their families if we only focus on the veteran with PTSD,” said Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill., who sponsored the briefing and is a sponsor of the bill. “We would be remiss to ignore that often it is a spouse or family member who encourages a service member or veteran with PTSD or other readjustment problems to seek counseling and treatment.”
Surveys of U.S. troops in Iraq highlight some of the problems. Evans’ staff says that one year after returning from deployment, 15 percent of service members plan to get divorced and 20 percent say they recognize a need to limit their alcohol use, both signs of potentially serious family problems.
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