War Veterans Receive Poor Treatment for Combat-Induced Mental Illness, Says VFA Study

Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans Have Signature Wounds that Aren't Being Healed, According to the VFA

On Thursday, Veterans for America (VFA) stated that as the result of its aggressive investigative program that sought out deficiencies in the treatment being given to soldiers with regard to service-connected neurological and mental health problems, it has identified a number of interrelated trends that are adversely affecting soldiers and veterans suffering from the "signature wounds" of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The "signature wounds" are traumatic brain injury (TBI) and psychological traumas.

VFA investigators paid visits to every demobilization site in the United States and overseas and observed the treatment given. The VFA has been disappointed with its findings of often poorly given mental health medical treatment by military facilities. There is little consideration given to TBI or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) within the military justice system.

Behavioral problems caused by these mental wounds can make it exceedingly difficult for war veterans to be re-integrated into society.

The VFA cites lack of capability to treat mental wounds, inadequate adherence to the Congressional inquiry process, and a lack of willingness among the military leadership to treat PTSD and TBI as the reasons for the poor quality of treatment.

According to many war veterans and psychiatrists who have treated war veterans for mental health problems, nearly every war veteran comes back from war with mental and emotional, even if no physical, scarring, and there is simply no way for most human beings, no matter how well prepared or trained, to equip themselves adequately to deal with the psychological stress of being constantly engaged in destroying, killing, and avoiding sudden death.

War has been called by those who have experienced it everything from Hell on earth to the world's most powerful aphrodisiac. It is the subjectively experienced extremism of warfare that so readily contributes to the onset of mental or emotional illness, they say.

This writer listened to one war veteran tell of coming home and drinking a case of Jack Daniel's every day.