Why is the care of todays veterans especially challenging?
At least one-third of the veterans of the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan return with mental disabilities, most notably post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and substance abuse. Improved battlefield medical care saves more lives, so more severely injured soldiers survive to face life with TBIs. Looking for causes of increased PTSD, substance abuse, anxiety and depression, some observers point to the heightened strain of longer and repeated deployments, as well as to less time off between front-line assignments to recover from battle stress. Desperately needed mental-health treatment is not available at all facilities in the VA health-care system; waiting lists for VA mental-health care are too long; needed follow-up is missing; and more medical staff qualified to treat these newly emerging rates of mental-health problems must be hired.
