WP: A Political Debate On Stress Disorder

[kskiska]

As Claims Rise, VA Takes Stock

The spiraling cost of post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans has triggered a politically charged debate and ignited fears that the government is trying to limit expensive benefits for emotionally scarred troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the past five years, the number of veterans receiving compensation for the disorder commonly called PTSD has grown nearly seven times as fast as the number receiving benefits for disabilities in general, according to a report this year by the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs. A total of 215,871 veterans received PTSD benefit payments last year at a cost of $4.3 billion, up from $1.7 billion in 1999 -- a jump of more than 150 percent.

Experts say the sharp increase does not begin to factor in the potential impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, because the increase is largely the result of Vietnam War vets seeking treatment decades after their combat experiences. Facing a budget crunch, experts within and outside the Veterans Affairs Department are raising concerns about fraudulent claims, wondering whether the structure of government benefits discourages healing, and even questioning the utility and objectivity of the diagnosis itself.

(snip)

Among the issues being discussed, he said, was whether veterans who show signs of recovery should continue to receive disability compensation: "Whether anyone has the political courage to cut them off -- I don't know that Congress has that will, but we'll see."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/26/AR2005122600792.html

[UpInArms]

1. WP: A Political Debate On Stress Disorder (or "how to deny PTSD vets")

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/26/AR2005122600792.html

The spiraling cost of post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans has triggered a politically charged debate and ignited fears that the government is trying to limit expensive benefits for emotionally scarred troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the past five years, the number of veterans receiving compensation for the disorder commonly called PTSD has grown nearly seven times as fast as the number receiving benefits for disabilities in general, according to a report this year by the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs. A total of 215,871 veterans received PTSD benefit payments last year at a cost of $4.3 billion, up from $1.7 billion in 1999 -- a jump of more than 150 percent.

<snip>

"On the one hand, it is good that people are reaching out for help," said Jeff Schrade, communications director for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "At the same time, as more people reach out for help, it squeezes the budget further."

Among the issues being discussed, he said, was whether veterans who show signs of recovery should continue to receive disability compensation: "Whether anyone has the political courage to cut them off -- I don't know that Congress has that will, but we'll see."

Much of the debate is taking place out of public sight, including an internal VA meeting in Philadelphia this month. The department has also been in negotiations with the Institute of Medicine over a review of the "utility and objectiveness" of PTSD diagnostic criteria and the validity of screening techniques, a process that could have profound implications for returning soldiers.

...more...

[acmejack]

2. Yeah, that's the ticket

Deny people the help they need, so we as a society can pay the price. Doing unnatural things, like blowing people apart, up close and personal, has no effect on an individual. Just throw them out on the street, it worked so well with Vietnam veterans.

[zanne]

3. We should have seen this one coming...

Cutting programs is their answer to everything; cutting Medicare and Medicaid funds is just the tip of the iceberg. This administration will use our misery to make us more miserable every time.And now, the supposedly revered veteran will see his serious emotional and psychological problems dismissed as reasons to seek "entitlements". How low can they go?

[Wordie]

10. Where is everyone??? This is about disabled VETS!!!!!!!

Where are all the anti-war DUers? There should be absolute outrage about this!

And not surprisingly, the American Enterprise Inst.(AEI) is involved, trying to deny help to these guys.

[kineneb]

14. I am anti-war and I am outraged

First BushCo sends the military on an insane assignment. Then when the mamed and really screwed up soldiers return, they are ignored and dumped on the street. This is how empires treat their soldiers, like so many numbers.

--
"...ya' haven't an arm, ya' haven't a leg,
the enemy nearly slew ya',
you'll have to go out on the streets and beg
oh, poor Johnny what have they done to ya'."

-last verse from one of the original versions of
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again"
late 18th - early 19th century, English

[MountainLaurel]

22. The anti-war DUers are exactly those who ARE outraged

They've seen what happens to someone after a war, and know how criminal it is. It's the pro-war hawks who don't give a shit.

[ClassWarrior]

4. It's not cost effective to treat PTSD, so get over it soldier!!

We have an economy to bankrupt!

NGU.

[fshrink]

5. That's also what happens

when you base psychological/psychiatric reasoning on statistical methods. Psychopathology ceases to be a process to understand to become a cluster of symptoms to treat, preferably in a profitable manner. Now, when it stops being overly profitable, you can always discuss the validity of the cluster. Or come up with another one. Or whatever.

[MountainLaurel]

6. America will pay the price for this in coming decades

Through a new generation of homeless vets who still hear gunfire and smell blood when they shut their eyes, through substance abuse, through dead and abused spouses and children, through shattered lives and unrealized potential.

[Bluerthanblue]

7. you speak such truth-

and again, you'd think we'd learn something from those who walked this path before-

We have wrought more sorrow and suffering than any 9/11 could-

[kineneb]

15. the return from Vietnam, revisited

I was in junior college when the Vietnam vets started enrolling there. Even the most "normal" were really messed up. I can only imagine what will happen with the troops returning from Iraq.

[Wordie]

8. The RW is trying to get PTSD reclassified because it is inconvenient.

The growing national debate over the Iraq war has changed the nature of the discussion over PTSD, some participants said. "It has become a pro-war-versus-antiwar issue," said one VA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because politics is not supposed to enter the debate. "If we show that PTSD is prevalent and severe, that becomes one more little reason we should stop waging war. If, on the other hand, PTSD rates are low . . . that is convenient for the Bush administration."

(emphasis mine)

And (surprise, surprise) our friends at the American Enterprise Institute have also chimed in:

Psychiatrist Sally Satel, who is affiliated with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said an underground network advises veterans where to go for the best chance of being declared disabled. The institute organized a recent meeting to discuss PTSD among veterans.

According to the article, many other experts dispute the idea that there is widespread fraud or misdiagnosis in the case of PTSD, and Terence M. Keane, a well-known PTSD researcher, pointed out that according to a study on the problem, only a quarter of the vets with combat-related PTSD ever use VA medical care for it.

Make no mistake about it. This is a shameful RW attempt to try to deny help to our vets:

Larry Scott, who runs the clearinghouse http://www.vawatchdog.org/ , said conservative groups are trying to cut VA disability programs by unfairly comparing them to welfare.

"What they are trying to do is figure out a way not to diagnose vets with PTSD," said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a veterans advocacy group. "It's like telling a patient with cancer, 'if we tell you, you don't have cancer, then you won't suffer from cancer.' "

These guys served our country. As an American, I am ashamed of the sorts of people who would turn their backs on them, either directly, or covertly, as this attempt is trying to do.

And here is some more on Sally Satel, M.D. (a psychiatrist), member of AEI, who also sits on the President's Commission on Mental Health:

Shrink Rapper

Sally Satel ’84 MD says America's obsession with feelings is creating a nation of wimps. Her critics say she's a right-wing zealot.

By Sharon Tregaskis

Sally Satel pulls no punches. In the last year, the conservative pundit and psychiatrist has criticized the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the juvenile death penalty, questioned the World Health Organization’s HIV policy, and argued against grief counseling for tsunami survivors in southern Asia. Her op-ed columns—bearing such provocative headlines as “I Am a Racially Profiling Doctor” and “Drugs: A Decision, Not a Disease”—appear in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/storydetail.cfm?ID=2744

[Wordie]

9. Kick

[mom cat]

11. Nominated. This topic needs visibility.

[WhiteTara]

12. just in case somene gets TOO much help

why let's give none. Yeah, that's the ticket. We support our troops. :sarcasm:

[MADem]

13. They are also doing pre-discharge screening interviews (a recent thing)

That include questionnaires and detailed forms to fill out. This is happening while the kids are trying to muster out, turn in gear, get out of base housing or the barracks, set up their transfer, coordinate their flight dates, go through base outprocessing, go through the other med/dental screening...yadi yadi yada...the entire process is stressful in and of itself, and it is a put-yer-head-down-and-plow-through-it type exercise. DREADED, to put it mildly.

When you are so motivated to get the fuck GONE, you tend to downplay any issues you may be experiencing, just so you can get the hell OUT OF there. You may think it will fade with time. But see, if you downplay any issues, or are not yet acknowledging that you even have them, well, then the gubmint has a RECORD...hey, Johnny came marching home and said--see, he signed on the dotted line, right here--that he was JUST FINE...so why is he coming back six months, a year, ten years later, saying he is having nightmares???

The poor kids...they thought they were doing their patriotic duty, little did they know they were just fungible commodities, per Rummy...

[InkAddict]

16. Understaffed and overworked combat stress specialist

returns for more professional loot!(ing)
http://www.wdtn.com/dsp_story.cfm?storyid=18063

"There's much to celebrate," Platoni said. "I think we've turned lives around in very major ways in Iraq."

LTC. Platoni will be back on the job on January 2nd, when she redeploys to Fort Benning, Georgia. That's where she'll complete her tour of duty.

[VegasWolf]

17. Tax cuts for the wealthy vs PTSD - Humm, what's a good capitalist to do?

:sarcasm:

[Wordie]

18. Kick-Please join with me in keeping this kicked (also recommended earlier)

[InkAddict]

19. Cavalry is here...

:kick:

[leetrisck]

20. They've been working on this for awhile now

It's not just the ptsd either - it's the entire disability system for military - there's an ongoing commission - supposed to do a report next August and then it will go from there. It's bad news all the way around for veterans.

[Megahurtz]

21. Who the fuck

could EVER "get over" shit like that?

Yeah, use 'em and lose 'em, it's the American Way! :sarcasm:

[Vidar]

23. i hope the untreated vets shoot in the right direction when it happens.