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March 05, 2009
Walter Reed taking proactive approach to mental healthcare
AFP (3/2) reports that anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), "and record-high suicide rates are haunting American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, amid a taboo over mental distress," but
at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, "psychological help is part and parcel of the care provided to soldiers wounded in combat, according to Colonel John Bradley, chief of the hospital's psychiatric department.
'We don't wait for a declaration of emotional distress or dysfunction but we rather see the patient right
from the beginning. We are looking for early signs of depression or difficulty coping with their battle injuries,' he told AFP."
According "to Bradley, 10 to 15 percent of wounded veterans treated at Walter Reed suffer from PTSD."
Related Links:
- "Stress, suicide: tough wounds for the US Army," AFP, March 2, 2009.
Posted by admin at March 5, 2009 04:08 PM