Mental woes bedevil US troops
19/4/08
More than 300,000 USA military veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression, new research released yesterday estimates. The study by a team at the Rand Corporation, a non-profit US think tank, showed mental disorders were more prevalent and lasting than previously known, surfacing belatedly and lingering after troops had been discharged. The study also concluded that about 320,000 veterans of those conflicts experienced a “probable” traumatic brain injury (TBI) during deployment, but the long-term impact on mental health was unclear. Military officials praised the Rand study, which was consistent with their own studies, and said it would reinforce efforts to try to improve mental healthcare. The findings were extrapolated from a survey of 1926 recently returned service members. The sample was designed to represent the 1.6 million troops who had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23562146-15084,00.html
Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, USA