Hidden Wounds Lead to Drugs

[unhappycamper]

(Part three of a five-part series)

Read Part One: War Vets Fighting Addiction

Read Part Two: Self-Medicating Medics


Hidden Wounds Lead to Drugs
ABC News | Robert Lewis and Kate McCarthy | November 28, 2007

As more U.S. servicemembers return home from Iraq and Afghanistan after witnessing the horrors of war, more will turn to drugs and alcohol to cope.

That's according to mental health experts who say there is a strong correlation between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, and substance abuse. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that afflicts people who have been through a traumatic event.

Dr. Phillip Ballard, a psychiatrist at Penrose-St. Francis Health Services in Colorado Springs, Colo., said he has seen a significant increase of soldiers from nearby Fort Carson seeking inpatient treatment for substance abuse.

"PTSD has as part of its core diagnosis the use of substances as self-medication for the relief of depression, anxiety, whatever feeling they may have," Ballard said. "Sometimes it's considered to be a weakness or a less than manly thing to ask for assistance or ask for help so they do the best they can do with what they have available...they use the chemicals and drugs they've used in the past to numb feelings up."

Between 30 and 50 percent of people with post-traumatic stress disorder will also abuse substances, according to Ballard.

As many as half of all PTSD patients treated in the Veterans Health Administration also have a substance abuse problem, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs' own information.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,157153,00.html?wh=wh



uhc comment: This is a really good series about PTSD.