PTSD

As the stories of PTSD from the current Iraq war become more prevalent, it is beginning to have an effect on veterans of Iraq '91 and Vietnam, exacerbating existing problems.

Then there's this "painstaking reanalysis" of old data from the 80's that claims the prevalence of PTSD from Vietnam is actually lower than previously reported. Yeah! Only 1 in 5 rather than 1 in 3 in the new evaluation. But there are alot of veterans groups questioning the methods, and the motives, of this study.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, which spends almost $10 billion a year on PTSD benefits and mental health care services generally, has in recent years initiated a number of reviews of how PTSD is diagnosed and treated. Many veterans believe that those moves have been motivated by a desire to cut back on help for ailing vets.

Cost issues have become prominent amid recent revelations that the number of veterans receiving compensation for PTSD -- about 216,000 last year -- has grown seven times as fast as the number receiving benefits for disabilities in general. And that figure does not include most of the more than 100,000 veterans who have sought mental health services since returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

And just as a bad taste kicker, speaking about the old study,

"some critics have contended that its numbers were inflated. That view has recently been invoked by conservative commentators who have implied that many vets are malingerers who have exaggerated their traumas and are bilking taxpayers."