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Monday, August 21, 2006 When war never ends: post-traumatic stress disorder New study estimates about one in five combat veterans experiences it. By BLYTHE BERNHARD The Orange County Register The psychological toll of combat can be overlooked as death and casualty counts climb. But a recent study has renewed the debate surrounding the mental-health problems of veterans.
Post-traumatic stress disorder may not affect as many Vietnam veterans as previously thought, according to a study published last week in the journal Science. The count is significant, both because of funding levels for veterans' mental-health programs and as an early indicator of the diagnosis in Iraq veterans.
A previous federal survey counted one in three Vietnam vets as suffering from the stress disorder. New analysis of the same data lowered that number to one in five. Still, the numbers are significant – an estimated 630,000 Americans have experienced the stress disorder since their service in Vietnam.
The 1988 study surveyed 1,200 Vietnam veterans around the country for symptoms of psychological distress – nightmares, flashbacks and easy irritability. The study concluded that 30 percent of the veterans experienced symptoms at any point after the war.
The new report re-evaluated 260 of the veterans from the original study. The researchers corrected for other possible causes of post-traumatic stress disorder and found that 19 percent of the veterans developed it from the war.
Some veterans question the science behind the lower figures, calling it a political ploy engineered by lawmakers leery of the Department of Veterans Affairs' yearly $3 billion budget for mental health.
Others said the study further legitimizes the disorder and establishes the need for continued treatment.
"We can quibble about the numbers, but the point is that it's a lot of people," said Dr. Matthew J. Friedman, executive director of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Q: What is post-traumatic stress disorder?
A: It's a mental disorder that occurs in some people who experience a life-threatening event such as combat, natural disasters, rape or even serious car accidents. Symptoms can include flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia and depression. Sufferers may have trouble keeping jobs and relationships and often abuse alcohol or drugs. The disorder can also manifest through high blood pressure, night sweats, anxiety, phobias and headaches.
Q: What causes it?
A: It is thought that stress hormones or adrenaline released by the body during an emotionally traumatic event can, in effect, sear those memories into the brain.
"The bottom line is once you know you're going to die and then you don't, at that moment you lost your personal sense of safety," said Sharon Simrin, a mental-health nurse practitioner with the Veterans Affairs Long Beach health-care system, which treats about 400 local veterans for the disorder. "They never feel safe so they can never trust anybody, can never get close to anybody."
Q: How many people in the general population have the disorder?
A: About 8 percent of the adult U.S. population has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder. Women are twice as likely as men to develop the disorder. The most common triggers include rape, molestation or abuse.
Q: Why do some people get the disorder and others don't?
A: That remains a mystery. Post-traumatic stress disorder develops over time. Some experts feel that a person's coping skills can play a role in whether they develop it.
Q: Can you block it from happening?
A:Researchers at UC Irvine have found that the formation of strong memories from emotional experiences might be prevented with medication.
"They'll still remember the rape, the mugging, but the memory is not going to be so strong that it is overpowering," said UCI neurobiologist James McGaugh. "The social and economic benefits would be just wonderful if the research of the clinicians pans out in the way we hope it will."
Q: Is the disorder permanent?
A: Most cases of post-traumatic stress will subside. However, about 20 percent of people with the disorder will have it for the rest of their lives, experts said.
Q: What does this all mean for Iraq veterans?
A: Early data show that the number of Iraq veterans affected by post-traumatic stress resembles that of Vietnam veterans. Nearly one out of five Americans serving in Iraq report mental-health problems, according to a March report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Exposure to combat increases the risk of post-traumatic stress. Nine out of ten Army soldiers in one combat unit reported experiencing enemy fire in Iraq, according to a 2004 report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"I think the Iraq vets are going to end up worse off," said Bobby Muller, director of Veterans for America in Washington. "Because of the shortages in military manpower, they've already got multiple deployments.
There really is no end in sight."
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Our Gov. is really pressing to show that PTSD among combat veterans is much lower than thought, there have been several articles in the last week on this issue. I love their numbers I guess they poled all combat veterans to come up with this statistic. It appears by their numbers that 80% of Combat Vets do not have stress hormones or adrenaline while under fire. I feel sorry for the Iraq Vets that will have to file for disabilities because it will get harder and harder for them to get compensation for their disability. As far as PTSD is concerned i think most Combat Vets have some degree of it but it is how it effects their life that is important. Some hide in their houses others go on normally, but the point here is our Gov. is beginning to worry how much money it will cost them down the road for this war and trying already to downplay the possible casualties.
Posts: 3875 | From: ca. | Registered: Jul 2005
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i know ive posted this before but found it suiting for this post. its actually CBS doing a story on my unit. now senators, and NPR are doing interviews with soldiers in my unit to findout what is going on and why the officers in the chain of command are trying to cover it up
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so. Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004
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