Our Troops: A Mental Health Crisis

This morning I heard a very troubling report on NPR about mental health treatments for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers returning from overseas are suffering nightmares, increased anxiety, inability to cope with the stresses of returning to civilian life, and many other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. When they then seek out medical attention to treat these symptoms there are long waiting lists and even if they get an appointment there is no guarantee that their commanding officers will allow them to attend. Commanding officers at Carson Military Base told their soldiers that when they are in training they must be persent at all times and cannot have the time off to see mental health professionals. Is this appalling to you as it is to me?

Even worse is that some commanding officers view men that have attendance problems or trouble following orders as malingerers instead of realizing that these are symptoms of suffering and emotional instability. They actually believe that the soldier is faking PTSD so that they will not be sent back to active duty in the Middle East. It is almost 2007 yet it seems to be more like the middle ages when we are seeing this sort of tragedy and rush to judgement against those who need mental health help most. The stigma fostered by the armed services (in my opinion based on reading many articles and speaking with friends and family in the military) puts us back in the stone ages. Soldiers who need help are seen as weak or disgraced, a dangerous and short-sighted assessment by untrained, insensitive commanders and peers.

I was at turns angered, frightened, and flabbergasted by the army’s lack of mental health treatment available for our soldiers who served in a war zone. These men have death and destruction burned into their retinas, screams echoing in their ears, they are dealing with the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on their own and I find that appalling.

This is a tragedy two-fold in that the person coming back from the serving in the middle east does not get adequate care so their families are left trying to cope with the anger and sadness that person has.

Suicide rates have risen in soldier populations both in the states and those still deployed. The link to depression, PTSD, and suicide are medically proven. Years from now we can expect to continue dealing with the fallout from inappropriate or inadequate mental health care for our troops. Until we start treating people who seek out mental health with the care and concern that their bravery warrant we will continue to see the consequences of the fear, aggression, sadness, and despair these men are feeling acted out via suicides, domestic abuse, and violence in our neighborhoods.