WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs has already treated 8,700 Iraq and Afghan war veterans for mental illnesses brought on by combat and expects to see far more in the coming years.
"I think we're going to see a significant amount of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)/mental health problems," said Anthony Principi, secretary of Veterans Affairs. "I think mental health is going to be an issue in this type of warfare where you don't know if you're going to be a victim of a car bomb or roadside bomb or a (rocket-propelled grenade.)"
"I think we're going to see an increase. You have to be ready for it. This type of warfare dictates that you're going to have serious problems," he said at a meeting with reporters Tuesday.
More than 168,000 troops who served in Iraq have left active duty, making them combat veterans and eligible to use VA health services. A portion of that number are reservists who have been inactivated but remain in the reserves.
Of those, 28,000 have sought VA healthcare. Around 5,400 of them have been diagnosed with combat-related mental health problems, including 1,600 suffering from PTSD.
In Afghanistan, 44,000 have been discharged from active duty, with 1,200 of them seeking help for combat-related mental illness. About 145 of them are diagnosed with PTSD.
The mental disorders range from depression to extreme psychosis, according to VA spokesman Phil Budahn. PTSD is a discreet set of symptoms. It generally sets in at least two years after the trauma is suffered, in this case combat. But 30 percent of the cases don't manifest themselves until 10 years after the traumatic event, according to medical literature.
To that end, Principi said the VA is taking steps to make mental health treatment more available to returning soldiers. He said all VA clinics and hospitals have been given a baseline of spending below which they cannot go for mental health treatment. The amount depends on the number of veterans served.
"You can't take money from mental health and put it in something else," he said.
He has also elevated his chief of psychiatric treatment, and has decreed that the 1,000 outpatient clinics across the country will have a mental health program.
The VA services will include drug and alcohol abuse treatment, and in-house substance abuse programs at VA hospitals will be "reinvigorated."
The VA is also making grants to all 50 states to program 10,000 beds for homeless people, a significant percentage of whom are veterans.
The New England Journal of Medicine released a study in July of Iraq combat veterans that showed at least one in eight -- between 15 and 17 percent -- seemed to suffer from major depression, generalized anxiety or PTSD.
Soldiers and Marines who served in Afghanistan showed a slightly lower rate of the same symptoms, about 11.2 percent. Troops who served in Iraq were significantly more likely to see combat than those in Afghanistan, according to the Journal.
The Journal surveyed 2,530 troops prior to and after deployment in Iraq and 3,671 in Afghanistan.
Of those whose responses were positive for a mental disorder, only 23 to 40 percent sought mental health care, the Journal reported. Those whose responses were positive for a mental disorder were also twice as likely as those whose responses were negative to report concern about being stigmatized if they sought mental health treatment.
PTSD is the result of the body's natural defenses against stress being overwhelmed by trauma, resulting in the patient repeatedly re-experiencing the trauma, or persistently avoiding stimulus -- even family and friends -- that can trigger memories of the traumatic event, bringing on a form of amnesia, or increased arousal -- angry outbursts, sleep disturbance, extreme vigilance and/or difficulty concentrating.
The symptoms are expected of anyone who has experienced a trauma. But if they last for more than a month or impair function, a PTSD diagnosis is usually made.
During World War I, PTSD was called shell shock, and during World War II it was referred to as combat fatigue. Most people with PTSD also suffer from other psychiatric, marital, occupational, financial and health problems, according to medical literature.
About 15 percent of male Vietnam war veterans experience PTSD. Between 2 and 10 percent of Gulf War vets have it. About 3 to 4 percent of the general adult U.S. population suffers from PTSD, a result of crime or some other trauma.
The VA served 827,000 veterans in 2003, compared to 480,000 in 2001. Its budget grew from $48 billion to $71 billion over that same period, according to Principi.
The administration anticipates at least $600 billion in compensation to veterans over the next 30 years, but also expects a steep drop in the number of veterans it serves over the next 10 years as World War II and Korean war vets die.
