Support the Troops
by Frederick
Post-War Suicides May Exceed Combat Deaths, U.S. Says
By Avram Goldstein
May 5 (Bloomberg) — The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government’s top psychiatric researcher said.
Community mental health centers, hobbled by financial limits, haven’t provided enough scientifically sound care, especially in rural areas, said Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He briefed reporters today at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in Washington.
Insel echoed a Rand Corporation study published last month that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post- traumatic stress disorder or depression, and only half of them receive treatment. About 1.6 million U.S. troops have fought in the two wars since October 2001, the report said. About 4,560 soldiers had died in the conflicts as of today, the Defense Department reported on its Web site.
Based on those figures and established suicide rates for similar patients who commonly develop substance abuse and other complications of post-traumatic stress disorder, “it’s quite possible that the suicides and psychiatric mortality of this war could trump the combat deaths,” Insel said.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD, is the failure to cope after a major shock, such as an auto accident, a rape or combat, Insel said. PTSD may remain dormant for months or years before it surfaces, and in about 10 percent of cases people never recover, he said.
What does it say that more people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan than in the original September 11th attacks? What does it say that this has already gone on longer than WWII and our defeat of the storied Nazi war machine? And what will it say to you and the rest of the world that American soldiers have taken their own lives in such large numbers?
Comments
It says to me that this war is even more deserving of the title “Vietnam II” than it was when I first started calling it that back in 2003.
Honestly – you train a person to follow orders without question and basically become a remorseless killing machine, then they get out of the army and suddenly they’re expected to just magically go back into normal citizen mode on their own? No wonder these poor people are killing themselves.
“remorseless killing machine”
I think that’s a little strong, from my experience.
OMG…this is a horrible stat. Good post, though.
This is the result of people who send soldiers to fight, kill and die having no combat experience besides watching John Wayne movies. The reality of having people shooting at you, of “collateral damage”, and actually taking away another human life was never accurately portrayed in those films.
I think this is a logical extension of the “love the fetus/hate the baby” logic of the rightwing warbots.
These assholes cover their cars in “Support the Troops” ribbons, but don’t give a fuck about them, if they’re not in the line of fire.
You’re back stateside, son. Suck it up. Use your bootstraps. Don’t be a pussy.
Thanks for posting this. This actually is important for my new line of work.