One third of soldiers returning from Iraq have mental health problems

According to a new study, as many as one-third of U.S. military personnel in the war in Iraq received mental health services following their return home, and one in every ten were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The U.S. military conducts population-level screening for mental health problems for all service members returning from Afghanistan, Iraq, and other locations.

Such information is important in order to gauge the mental health demands of war and to ensure adequate resources are available to meet the current mental health care needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The latest mental health screening of veterans showed 21,620 out of 222,620 returning from Iraq and assessed over the year ending April 30, 2004, suffered from post-traumatic stress, a disorder that can lead to nightmares, flashbacks and delusional thinking and which often occurs after witnessing death or participating in combat.

The study by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, found that 19.1 percent of soldiers and marines who returned from Iraq suffered mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress or depression, compared to 11.3 percent among veterans who served in Afghanistan and 8.5 percent from deployments elsewhere.

Study author Col. Charles W. Hoge M.D., and colleagues carried out the study to determine the relationship between deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan and mental health care use during the first year after returning home.

According to the study of those diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, 80 percent said they had witnessed people being killed or wounded or had participated in combat and fired their weapon; of those not diagnosed, half had experienced violence or combat.

Col. Hoge says post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-related mental problems can lead to family strife, divorce, alcohol and substance abuse, and unemployment.

The study found that while one in five veterans returning from Iraq reported mental health concerns, one-third ultimately went for at least one session to be evaluated or counseled.

Col.Hoge says they are encouraging soldiers to access treatment for mental health problems early as it is the best way to prevent the long-term consequences seen from past wars.

The study is published in the March 1 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.