Veterans & PTSD
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Original Air Date: 11/12/2009
Veterans & PTSD
Record numbers of military troops are committing suicide, taking daily doses of anti-depressants, and suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Why? Army General Peter Chiarelli believes it is the cumulative effects of multiple deployments of 12 to 15 months. Troops must deal with the stress of war, separation from family, and the continuing stigma associated with seeking help.
More than 40% of U.S. soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afganastan, who sought treatment from a VA hospital, were diagnosed with a mental disorder or a related behavioral problem.
Currently two-thirds of the troops stationed at Fort Lewis are in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Iraq units are due to return home beginning this Spring, but they face additional deployments to Afghanistan.
We have asked a lot of these brave men and women over the last 8 years. Now, how do we help them successfully return to our communities?
Guests
Rod Wittmier – Executive Director, VetsMeetVets
Rod Wittmier served in the Army’s Military Intelligence branch from 1974 to 1978 and reached the rank of E-5. He is the founder and executive director of VetsMeetVets, whose mission is to eliminate veteran suicide in our nation. He launched VetsMeetVets in 2009 as a way to connect older veterans with vets that were returning from our most recent conflicts.
View the VetsMeetVets website here.
Dan Comsia – PTSD Program Counselor
Dan Comsia holds two masters degrees, one in divinity and one in psychology and counseling. He has treated military PTSD sufferers for 12 years as a certified counselor for the Washington Department of Veteran’s Affairs PTSD Program. He has worked with veterans from every major American conflict since World War II.
View the PTSD Program's website here.
Stats and Facts
The Department of Veterans Affairs reported about a 70% jump in veterans seeking treatment for PTSD in the 12 months before June 2007 and an additional 50% rise in the next nine months.
As of the end of October, 134 army soldiers had committed suicide, surpassing the confirmed 133 suicides that happened all of last year. The rate of military suicides is higher than the rates of comparable civilian demographics.
According to a Rand Corp. study, in April of 2009, 300,000 service members who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan report symptoms of PTSD or major depression, but only slightly more than half sought treatment.
Also according to the study researchers estimated that these illnesses will cost the nation as much as $6.2 billion in the two years following deployment when taking into account medical care and costs for low productivity and suicide.
A study that was reported in the American Journal of Public Health in July 2009 stated that more than 40 percent of U.S. soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, who sought treatment from a Veterans Administration hospital, suffer from a mental disorder or a related behavioral problem.
On June 16, 2009, Time magazine reported that a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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