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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 May 5, 2007 12:08 PM