One in six US veterans of Iraq war suffers trauma disorders

According to researchers, large numbers of American soldiers returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric difficulties. The average age of the fighting personnel is just 19, but the prognosis for a healthy life is bleak.

A study published July 1 by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) found that one in six soldiers returning from Iraq was suffering from a variety of emotional problems, with lower levels of mental disabilities exhibited among those who served in Afghanistan. The report, conducted by a team from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C., is the first such assessment of war-related psychiatric disorders made while military action is underway. Most studies in the past that have focused on the effects of combat on mental health were performed years after the fighting had ended.

“Research conducted after other military conflicts has shown that deployment stressors and exposure to combat result in considerable risks of mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, substance abuse, impairment in social functioning and in the ability to work, and the increased use of health care services.... A problem in the methods of such studies is the long recall period after exposure to combat. Very few studies have examined a broad range of mental health outcomes near to the time of the subjects’ deployment,” according to the investigation.

The all-volunteer forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have been involved in the first sustained ground combat undertaken by the US since Vietnam. The researchers surveyed more than 6,000 American soldiers in the months before and after combat in the two countries. Nearly 17 percent of those who fought in Iraq showed symptoms of PTSD, major depression or severe anxiety, versus 11 percent for those who served in Afghanistan. The higher rates of psychiatric trauma reported by troops returning from Iraq reflected a greater exposure to combat, with some 90 percent of the soldiers in Iraq having been in a firefight, compared to 31 percent in Afghanistan.

“For all groups responding after deployment, there was a strong relation between combat experiences, such as being shot at, handling dead bodies, knowing someone who was killed, or killing enemy combatants and the prevalence of PTSD,” stated the NEJM researchers.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jul2004/post-j09.shtml