Soldier's Heart

In July, an article in the NEJM suggested that the rate of depression, anxiety and PTSD for soldiers coming out of Iraq was around 16%. An article in an Austin paper questions that number:

On March 25, Dr. James Scully, medical director of the American Psychiatric
Association, testified to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and
Independent Agencies. Scully, a Navy veteran, reported a 42% explosion in VA
patients with severe PTSD, with only a 22% increase in money spent on PTSD
services.

It brings to mind the reality that inadequate funding for veteran mental health services is another one of those pay-me-now-or-pay-me-later issues:

...Yet the VA's mental health programs are chronically underfunded, and the
agency currently projects a $1.65 billion shortfall in those programs by the end
of 2007. "If we don't give the VA what it needs immediately, the consequences
will be lifelong and devastating," says Steve Robinson, executive director of
the National Gulf War Resource Center."

A billion and a half short? Incredible...

Read the whole story, which includes great descriptions of the painful symptoms some of our returning heroes must endure.