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May 05, 2007

PTSD affects broader number of people than first thought

In a front-page story, USA Today (5/2, 1A, Slavin) reports that the State Department has found U.S. diplomats returning from Iraq exhibit symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.

U.S. diplomats are returning from Iraq with the same debilitating, stress-related symptoms that have afflicted many U.S. troops, prompting the State Department to order a mental health survey of 1,400 employees who have completed assignments there....

Harry O'Hara, a 26-year State Department employee, said he suffers insomnia and has lost 15 pounds since coming back nine months ago. He recalls that while in Baghdad in 2005 and 2006, he had difficulty trying to sleep in a trailer near a landing pad for helicopters ferrying wounded troops into the Green Zone for treatment.

"What was never made clear to us was what it would be like to serve in a war zone," O'Hara said. "I thought I was strong. I was totally unprepared."

The full article is available at the link below.

Related Link:

- "U.S. diplomats returning from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder," Barabra Slavin, USA Today, May 2, 2007, p1, Section A.

Posted by admin at 12:08 PM

May 02, 2007

Psychiatry-Related Websites

(Links will open in a new window.)

Psychiatry and Related Fields

• American Psychiatric Association
• Maryland Psychiatric Society
  • Find A Psychiatrist!
• National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
• National Mental Health Association
• Maryland Mental Health Online
• Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygeine
• Maryland Board of Physicians (State medical licensing board)
• Mental Health Statistics
• APA Responds to Tom Cruise's Anti-Psychiatry Remarks (PDF File)
• Let's Talk Facts page at the HealthyMinds.org
• President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health: "Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America"
• DepressionIsReal.org *NEW*

School Shootings and Related Violence

• Psychology of the School Shootings *NEW*
• Student Violence in America's Schools *NEW*
• Warning Signs of Youth Violence *NEW*
• Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General

Public Information about Psychoanalysis

• American Psychoanalytic Association: Ask a Psychoanalyst!

Drug and Alcohol Abuse

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• PREVLINE: Prevention Online, SAMHSA

Workplace and Mental Health Initiatives

• National Partnership for Workplace Mental Health

Posted by admin at 10:26 AM