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Army Hospital MIA on Stress Disorders

Posted Jun 18, 07 4:15 PM CDT in US,  Politics,  Glossies 

(Newser) – Though 20 to 40 soldiers are sent home from Iraq each month with severe mental problems, the Army's largest hospital has no post-traumatic stress disorder center, reports the Washington Post. There is also a severe shortage of doctors qualified to treat these patients. Not long ago, the head of psychiatry sent a memo pleading for more staff.

Walter Reed provides state-of-the-art prosthetics and rehab treatment for amputees. Yet soldiers diagnosed with combat stress far outnumber those who have lost limbs. Traumatized soldiers get thrown in with other psychiatric patients whose problems range from schizophrenia to marital strife. And individual therapy, a key part of PTSD treatment, is  rare. 

Source Washington Post

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An unidentified member of the military arrives at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington in this Aug. 25, 2005 file photo. The Army said Friday, June 15, 2007 that it has opened an investigation...   (Associated Press)
A Purple Heart, bearing the image of Gen. George Washington, is seen on the uniform of Army Sgt. Jerald Gragg of Granite Falls, N.C., Friday, April 6, 2007, during a ceremony at Walter Reed Army Medical...   (Associated Press)
U.S. soldiers of the 2nd brigade, 12th Infantry Division, company D, patrol the Dora neighborhood in the southern Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday, June 16, 2007. Smoke in the background came from burning...   (Associated Press)
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health care • soldier • veterans • stress • PTSD • psychiatry • Walter Reed Army Medical Center


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