The Kalamazoo Gazette recently ran an article (very hard to get to, via their website, which requires registration) entitled, "The Trauma of War: Experts Fear Cases of Veterans with PTSD Could Skyrocket." The article's authors are Chris Killian and Ben Lando, and the original publication date was February 19, 2006.
A brief excerpt follows:
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that between 2002 and 2005, about 19,000 soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan were treated for symptoms of PTSD.
The actual number of those who suffer from PTSD almost certainly is higher, veterans experts say, because the stigma attached to mental disorders sometimes keeps troops from acknowledging a problem or seeking treatment. Another factor that might keep reported cases deceptively low: PTSD frequently doesn't affect a person until long after he or she has suffered a traumatic experience.
A 2004 VA study of 6,201 active-duty U.S. service members, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that symptoms of major depression, anxiety or PTSD were reported by 16 percent to 17 percent of those who fought in Iraq and 11 percent of those who served in Afghanistan.
Of the veterans who were confirmed sufferers of PTSD, 80 percent acknowledged they had a problem, 40 percent said they wanted help, but only 26 percent reported receiving formal mental-health care.
“The human experience is always the same with regard to the trauma of war,” said Jim Simmons, assistant director of the American Legion Department of Michigan Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation.
“The stress leaves its mark on everybody, some more than others.”
