300,000 vets have mental problem, 320,000 had brain injuries

April 17, 2008
300,000 vets have mental problem, 320,000 had brain injuries

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain injuries, a new study estimates.

Only about half have sought treatment, said the study released Thursday by the RAND Corporation.

Mentally Ill Veterans Sent Back To War

November 11, 2007
Mentally Ill Veterans Sent Back To War

"I don't believe in another circumstance with the war, that Russell would be redeployed with
his PTSD," his girlfriend Catherine Colone said. "But in this war, there just aren't enough
soldiers."

One day after Michael DeVlieger was released from an Army hospital in Kentucky for acute stress
disorder, he got the redeployment order. Now he's on the front lines.

Army plans to hire more psychiatrists

June 14, 2007
Army plans to hire more psychiatrists

WASHINGTON - Overwhelmed by the number of soldiers returning from war with mental problems, the Army is planning to hire at least 25 percent more psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers.

A contract finalized this week but not yet announced calls for spending $33 million to add about 200 mental health professionals to help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health needs, officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Ritchie said long and repeat deployments caused by extended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are causing more mental strain on troops. "At the time that the war began, I don't think anybody anticipated how long it would be going on," she said.

Male veterans have higher suicide risk

June 11, 2007
Male veterans have higher suicide risk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Male U.S. veterans are twice as likely to die by suicide than people with no military service, and are more likely to kill themselves with a gun than others who commit suicide, researchers said on Monday.

The findings indicate that doctors and others who may treat U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan should be alert for signs of depression and suicidal tendencies, said lead researcher Mark Kaplan of Portland State University in Oregon.

Families charge inadequate mental health care fosters suicide among vets of Iraq war

May 28, 2007
Families charge inadequate mental health care fosters suicide among vets of Iraq war

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says that although suicides among troops returning from the war is a significant problem, the scope is unknown.

"The problem that we face right now is that there's no method to track veterans coming home," said Rieckhoff, who served in Iraq as a platoon leader in the first year of the war. "There's no system. There's no national registry."

More than four years into the war, the government has little information on suicides among Iraq war veterans.

"We don't keep that data," said Karen Fedele, a VA spokeswoman in Washington. "I'm told that somebody here is going to do an analysis, but there just is nothing right now."

The Defense Department does track suicides, but only among troops in combat operations such as Iraq and Afghanistan and in surrounding areas. Since the war started four years ago, 107 suicides during Iraq operations have been recorded by the Defense Manpower Data Center, which collects data for the Pentagon. That number, however, usually does not include troops who return home from the war zone and then take their lives.

Mental illness common in returning U.S. soldiers

March 12, 2007
Mental illness common in returning U.S. soldiers

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - High rates of mental health disorders are being diagnosed among US military personnel soon after being released from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to investigators in San Francisco.

They estimate that out of 103,788 returning veterans, 25 percent had a mental health diagnosis, and more than half of these patients had two or more distinct conditions.