Thursday, April 17, 2008

U.S. Wars Result in 300,000+ Vet Brain Injuries

Add this to the mind-boggling crimes of this administration and the enabling Congress; from Raw Story, reprinting an AP story:
300,000 vets have mental problem, 320,000 had brain injuries

Some 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain injuries, a new study estimates.

Only about half have sought treatment, said the study released Thursday by the RAND Corporation.

"There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Terri Tanielian, the project's co-leader and a researcher at the nonprofit RAND.

"Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for them and for the nation," she said in an interview with The Associated Press....

The Department of Veterans Affairs said this month that its records show about 120,000 who served in the two wars and are no longer in the military have been diagnosed with mental health problems. Of the 120,000, approximately 60,000 are suffering from PTSD, the VA said....

The most prominent and detailed military study on mental health that is released is the Army's survey of soldiers at the warfront. Officials said last month that it's most recent one, done last fall, found 18.2 percent of soldiers suffered a mental health problem such as depression, anxiety or acute stress in 2007 compared with 20.5 percent the previous year.

The Rand study, completed in January, put the percentage of PTSD and depression at 18.5 percent, calculating that approximately 300,000 current and former service members were suffering from those problems at the time of its survey, which was completed in January.

The figure is based on Pentagon data showing over 1.6 million military personnel have deployed to the conflicts since the war in Afghanistan began in late 2001....

The report is titled "Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery." It was sponsored by a grant from the California Community Foundation and done by 25 researchers from RAND Health and the RAND National Security Research Division, which also has done does work under contracts with the Pentagon and other defense agencies as well as allied foreign governments and foundations.
___
On the Net:
RAND Corporation: http://www.rand.org
Army studies: http://www.armymedicine.army.mil
Source: AP News
The human costs of the U.S. war of aggression and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan keeps climbing and climbing. The economic costs are staggering, too. It is hard to estimate the amount of psychic numbing the entire society suffers from being subjected to such raw bellicosity mixed with political helplessness.

Are you bitter yet?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for writing this post and keeping the enormity of the problem - and its continued growth - in front of people./

As an aside - is your sidebar anti-torture button a part of a collective effort? I am very interested in adding that to my blog, if it is.

Valtin said...

Annie, just right-click the imagine and take it. The button came from a campaign that is now shutdown.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, I'll try to do that soon.

Do you think it might be possible to begin to organize listings of blogs which are avowed anti-torture?

On an unrelated note, do you know of stateside resources for victims of domestic-based terrorism? As in people who were exposed for prolonged periods to gunfire, death threats, stalking, assault, etc. by government officials/law enforcement personnel/judiciary personnel/healthcare professionals, etc.?

Seeking, but not finding....

Thanks for any leads.

Search for Info/News on Torture

Google Custom Search
Add to Google ">View blog reactions

This site can contain copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my effort to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.