300,000 Vets Have Mental Problems, 320,000 Had Brain Injuries

  300,000 Vets Have Mental Problems, 320,000 Had Brain Injuries
    By Pauline Jelinek
    The Associated Press

    Thursday 17 April 2008

    Washington - 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.

    "There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who
have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Terri Tanielian,
the project's co-leader and a researcher at the nonprofit RAND.

    "Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these
mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for
them and for the nation," she said in an interview with The Associated
Press.

    The 500-page study is the first large-scale, private assessment of
its kind - including a survey of 1,965 service members across the
country, from all branches of the armed forces and including those
still in the military as well veterans who have left the services.

    Its results appear consistent with a number of mental health
reports from within the government, though the Defense Department has
not released the number of people it has diagnosed or who are being
treated for mental problems. The Department of Veterans Affairs said
this month that its records show about 120,000 who served in the two
wars and are no longer in the military have been diagnosed with mental
health problems. Of the 120,000, approximately 60,000 are suffering
from PTSD, the VA said.

    Veterans Affairs is responsible for care of service members after
they have left the service, while the Defense Department covers active
duty and reservist needs. The lack of information from the Pentagon
was one motivation for the RAND study, Tanielian said.

    The most prominent and detailed military study on mental health
that is released is the Army's survey of soldiers at the warfront.
Officials said last month that it's most recent one, done last fall,
found 18.2 percent of soldiers suffered a mental health problem such
as depression, anxiety or acute stress in 2007 compared with 20.5
percent the previous year.

    The Rand study, completed in January, put the percentage of PTSD
and depression at 18.5 percent, calculating that approximately 300,000
current and former service members were suffering from those problems
at the time of its survey, which was completed in January.

    The figure is based on Pentagon data showing over 1.6 million
military personnel have deployed to the conflicts since the war in
Afghanistan began in late 2001.

    RAND researchers also found:

About 19 percent - or some 320,000 services members - reported that
they experienced a possible traumatic brain injury while deployed. In
wars where blasts from roadside bombs are prevalent, the injuries can
range from mild concussions to severe head wounds.


About 7 percent reported both a probable brain injury and current PTSD
or major depression.


Only 43 percent reported ever being evaluated by a physician for their
head injuries.


Only 53 percent of service members with PTSD or depression sought help
over the past year.


They gave various reasons for not getting help, including that they
worried about the side effects of medication; believe family and
friends could help them with the problem, or that they feared seeking
care might damage their careers.


Rates of PTSD and major depression were highest among women and
reservists.
    The report is titled "Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and
Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist
Recovery." It was sponsored by a grant from the California Community
Foundation and done by 25 researchers from RAND Health and the RAND
National Security Research Division, which also has done does work
under contracts with the Pentagon and other defense agencies as well
as allied foreign governments and foundations.



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    On the Web:
    RAND Corporation: http://www.rand.org

    Army studies: http://www.armymedicine.army.mil