High PTSD Rates among Recent Veterans Add to High Financial Costs of War

WASHINGTON — Nearly one veteran in five of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come home suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or depression, a study released Thursday concludes.

Some 300,000 returning veterans meet the criteria for these mental illnesses, according to research by the RAND Corp., a private think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif.

Beyond the personal trauma being experienced by these troops, the problems are costing the country $3.1 billion a year in medical care, lost productivity and suicide, RAND estimates.

"There is a major health care crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan," said RAND researcher Terri Tanielian, co-leader of the project that produced the report, "Invisible Wounds: Mental Health and Cognitive Care Needs of America's Returning Veterans."

The study found that only about half of the veterans who need care for depression or post traumatic stress disorder are receiving it and only about a quarter of those who need care are getting adequate treatment.

Many are deterred from seeking help due to the complexities of working through the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs or out of fear of having military or civilian careers sidelined by a medical record of mental health concerns, Tanielian said.

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental condition stemming from jarring experiences such as having a friend seriously wounded or killed, seeing dead civilians, witnessing brutality or engaging in hand-to-hand combat. It affects people to varying degrees - and some of those exposed to such violence do not report some of its classic symptoms, such as extreme anxiety and flashbacks.

Because of the way troops have been deployed in Iraq, and the extent to which support staff such as supply personnel and convoy operations have been targeted, combat forces aren't the only ones exposed to traumatic incidents in that war.

"There's a wide range of people who are being exposed to combat stress in this war," said RAND behavioral and social scientist Terry Schell, who led the study's survey work.

RAND surveyed 1,965 service members, from all branches of the military, who recently returned from Iraq or Afghanistan. The survey found that 18.5 percent of the respondents met the criteria for PTSD or depression.

The findings were consistent with U.S. Army data showing that last year 18.2 percent of its returning forces exhibited signs of mental health problems such as depression or anxiety.

Col. Loree Sutton, director of a Defense Department brain injury center, told reporters that the Pentagon is trying to hire more than 1,000 mental health care professionals to help deal with the problems being faced by returning veterans returning from the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition to depression and PTSD, another 19.5 percent of veterans returning from both countries come home with traumatic brain injury, the RAND study found. While most of these cases are mild, many are not being properly assessed, leaving veterans open to brain disorders that could be with them for life, said Tanielian.

About 1.64 million U.S. troops have served in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001.