The scam has been exposed for quite a while now (VA Failing – Troops Suffer (2005), Born Under Punches, Walk It Off, 20,000 Soldiers Denied Healthcare), but the big money media won’t go after the story. There is a game being played with PTSD numbers, and the most egregious sin against our troops is the military’s tendency to write off PTSD as a “pre-existing condition” whenever it can. This leaves the veteran uncovered and at a serious disadvantage when it comes to achieving success as a civilian. It’s almost like the government consulted with the big money health insurance companies on how best to keep costs down.
So on a Friday we get two great stories on PTSD, with each of them covering a seperate aspect.
(Gregg Zoroya-USAToday: Veteran stress cases up sharply) The number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder from the Department of Veterans Affairs jumped by nearly 20,000 — almost 70% — in the 12 months ending June 30, VA records show.
More than 100,000 combat veterans sought help for mental illness since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, about one in seven of those who have left active duty since then, according to VA records collected through June. Almost half of those were PTSD cases.The numbers do not include thousands treated at storefront Vet Centers operated by the department across the country. Nor do they include active-duty personnel diagnosed with the disorder or former servicemembers who have not sought VA treatment. About 1.5 million U.S. troops have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Of those, 750,000 have left the military and are eligible for VA health care. The nearly 50,000 VA-documented PTSD cases far exceed the 30,000 military personnel that the Pentagon officially classifies as wounded in the conflicts. The discrepancy underscores the view by military and civilian health officials, such as Lt. Gen. James Campbell, director of the Army staff, that troops tend to ignore, hide or fail to recognize their mental health wounds until after their military service.
(Shankar Vedantam-WaPost: Most PTSD Treatments Not Proven Effective) The majority of treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder that are used to treat hundreds of thousands of veterans lack rigorous scientific evidence that they are effective, according to a report issued yesterday by a panel of the federal government’s top scientists.
“If a treatment that is not shown to be efficacious is nevertheless delivered to veterans, and if the treatment is relatively inert, even if it does not harm the veterans, it may demoralize the veteran,” said Richard McNally, a Harvard University psychologist and PTSD expert. “Providing treatments that do not have a good basis in evidence can result in people not improving, therefore getting demoralized and therefore not seeking treatment that can actually help them.”But the panel failed to find evidence that any medication was effective in treating PTSD — this included the drugs Paxil and Zoloft, which have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat the disorder. “A very high percentage of people who have been diagnosed with PTSD are on medications,” said Larry Scott, the founder of the advocacy group VA Watchdog dot Org, which serves as an information clearinghouse for veterans.
Veterans are prescribed drugs in mass quantities. It is a way to quickly consider the patient as being “in treatment”, without having to devote a lot of man-hours doing any psychiatric heavy lifting. The FDA officials and whatever doctors who helped out in this regard, to facilitate the opening of a new market for their big money drug daddies, should be investigated. Nothing is getting better for our military. The voices are growing louder though.
With that in mind, let me remind everyone to check out the work of: Blue Man in a Red District – Army of Dude – Soldier Voices Forum – VideoVets – Iraq Slogger