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Tip Of The PTSD Iceberg
Recent cases of violent veterans like the one who killed the coed in Alabama a few months ago and the one in this story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080517/ap_on_re_us/canyon_carjacking
are the "tip of the PTSD iceberg" that our country has in its future.
Diagnosis and treatment has come a long way since the Vietnam war but it still has far to go before it is adequate.
Of course, ideally, the errors of our current leadership would have been prevented by less arrogance and incompetence and there wouldn't be veterans who have served FOUR tours in Iraq! But since we can't turn back the clock and give the Bush administration competence, we're going to have to deal with the consequences for decades... or generations.
The VA and the American people must find the compassion to expand diagnosis and treatment of this horrible affliction. If adjustments aren't made, this is just the beginning... the tip of the PTSD iceberg.
Comments (3)
This post goes to show how PTSD is not only a veterans' problem, but one that affects us all. Compassionate treatment, aside from being our society's moral duty, is also an investment in everyone's safety.
May 18, 2008 12:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Unfortunately, rather than expand the diagnosis, there is concern that the VA is discouraging the diagnosis of PTSD.
See:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-veterans-e-mail,0,7684161.story
May 18, 2008 8:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Compassionate treatment for our soldiers = no war. In my book.
May 18, 2008 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
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