Mental Health Care For Veterans

I wrote this on Veteran’s day, a day the US set aside to honor those who have served our country. I have not served in the armed forces, but my gratitude for those who have runs deep. Here in the US we have a crisis taking place with respect to our veterans. We are taking injured soldiers from the battlefield, but only treating some of them. We are ignoring many of our warriors who are suffering from mental injuries. How could anyone serve in battle and not be traumatized? To see what goes on in a war zone and not come away forever changed? Yet the US is not giving our veterans the care and treatment they deserve.

From a recent NAMI email bulletin:

• Almost 1 in 3 veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq confront mental health problems.
• In 2006, the suicide rate in the Army reached its highest level in 26 years.
• Approximately 30% of veterans treated in the Veterans health system suffer from depressive symptoms, two to three times the rate of the general population.
• More Vietnam veterans have now died from suicide than were killed directly during the war in the 1960s and 70s.
•  Approximately 40% of homeless veterans have mental illnesses. Approximately 57% of this group are African American or Hispanic veterans.

The Dallas Morning News ran an excellent story about this a few weeks ago, Veterans are home, but not at ease. They state:

The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs have acknowledged their failure to prepare for the large number of casualties that came with the prolonged insurgency after the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.

Now, after a string of damning reports and stinging congressional hearings, there is a rush to help these wounded warriors. A massive mobilization across the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments – with crucial assistance from veteran advocacy groups and nonprofit organization – is under way to help veterans transition from combat to civilian life.

I can't imagine trying to jump back into society after a war experience.

It's not just about recovering from their injuries, but adjusting to regular life after the stress of war. They struggle to keep their families together, find work, pay mortgages, secure disability pay, recover from war wounds and relieve post-combat stress. Yet services for them are largely uncoordinated, sluggish and confusing. And many are in poor shape to slog through the system.

"You see us and we're not full people when we come back," said Orlando Castaneda, an Army combat veteran from Arlington. "When we come back, we are fragments of human beings, mentally and physically. We've been in the thick of it."

Thankfully, help is showing up in many forms. An organization called Give An Hour, a non-profit organization, is offering free mental health services to returning Veterans and their loved ones. They are recruiting mental health professionals to donate time for this cause, and are sitting at over 750 providers currently. Their goal is 10% of the mental health care community, or about 40,000 people. Imagine the benefit if they can get these resources mobilized!