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Rise in number of soldiers returning with mental problems prompts move
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19236181/
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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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