Army to provide more psychiatric help for GIs

[Yrys]

Rise in number of soldiers returning with mental problems prompts move

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19236181/

WASHINGTON - Overwhelmed by the number of soldiers returning from war with mental problems,
the Army is planning to hire at least 25 percent more psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. A contract
finalized this week but not yet announced calls for spending $33 million to add about 200 mental health
professionals to help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health needs, officials
told The Associated Press on Thursday.

"As the war has gone on, PTSD and other psychological effects of war have increased," said Col. Elspeth Ritchie,
psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general. "The number of (mental health workers) that was adequate
for a peacetime military is not adequate for a nation that's been at war," she said in an interview.

The new hiring, which she said could begin immediately, is part of a wider plan of action the Army has laid out
to improve health care to wounded or ill veterans and their families. It also comes as the Defense Department
completes a wider mental health study — the latest in a series over recent months that has found services for
troops have been inadequate. Ritchie said long and repeat deployments caused by extended wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan are causing more mental strain on troops. "At the time that the war began, I don't think anybody
anticipated how long it would be going on," she said.

Surveys of troops in Iraq have shown that 15 percent to 20 percent of Army soldiers have signs and symptoms
of post-traumatic stress, which can cause flashbacks of traumatic combat experiences and other severe reactions.

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[GAP]

Army to Launch Traumatic Brain Injury, PTSD Education Program
By John J. Kruzel American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, July 17, 2007
Article Link

Within 90 days, all soldiers will receive information to help them identify symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury, and they will be urged to seek treatment if necessary, Army officials told reporters at the Pentagon today.
Mental health care professionals will brief Army Secretary Pete Geren on the new program at the Pentagon tomorrow. And by Oct. 18, the same educational supplement will have been presented to platoon-sized groups of active-duty, reserve and National Guard soldiers throughout the force.

“The mild traumatic brain injury and the post-traumatic stress disorders -- they’re real,” said Army Lt. Gen. James Campbell, director of the Army staff. “They impact soldiers and impact those soldiers’ families. And as a result of that, that impacts the readiness of our great Army.”

During his 37-year career, Campbell said he recalls only two other instances when the Army mandated such extensive “chain training” programs.

According to subject matter experts, mild traumatic brain injury is an affliction that’s become a signature injury of the war on terror, often resulting from soldiers’ proximity to roadside bombs, mortars and other explosions. Symptoms are similar to those resulting from a concussion, from slower reaction times to emotional and cognitive problems.

PTSD often occurs from a feeling of helplessness at the time of a severely traumatic event. It manifests itself in three clusters of symptoms: intrusive re-experiencing of the event, numbness or disassociation, and hypervigilance, or the feeling that one is constantly “on edge.”
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[Yrys]

Goos. I hope it helps the soldiers .