The general public vastly overestimates the number of post-9/11 veterans with mental health conditions, a misconception veterans advocates say threatens the overall well-being and employment prospects of former troops.
A survey of more than 1,000 adults in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom found that roughly 40 percent believed more than half the 2.8 million veterans who have served since 2001 have a mental health condition.
The actual figure lies somewhere between 10 percent and 20 percent, or 280,000 to just more than a half million, according to a Rand Corp. estimate.
The recent survey, conducted by the George W. Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative, also found that while a majority of veterans say traumatic brain injury and combat-related mental health conditions are legitimate war wounds, 80 percent say embarrassment or shame is a barrier to seeking treatment.
A similar percentage say concerns for future employment also kept them from getting medical treatment and therapy for these conditions.
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Well, no offense to any vets past, present or future, but given the number of suicides, actions committed while in and out of uniform, high amounts of vets becoming police officers upon discharge and high numbers of abuse and criminal acts carried out by SOME police officers, prescription drugs given to vets while in service and out of service, those are just a small number of reasons while the public might consider vets to have a high rate of mental issues. And that is without even mentioning the horrors of war they are exposed to.
ReplyDeleteWhether accurate or not that may be the general perception of vets to some people, and perception is a powerful thing.
No?
ReplyDeleteHaving served and being aware of the issues with combat and mental stress , I will say this : if you were trained properly and performed as you should have , there should be no problem with mental health. Of course over the past 8 years obama has infiltrated the military with pussies and degenerates , of course they have mental issues , they have always had mental issues.
ReplyDeleteAlso , it is a known fact that most people don't want to kill other people.
Just settle down and go on with your lives , if you want to do the suicide gig , have at it.
Much of this perception comes from the media coverage of incidents that happen. Vets being pointed out as vets, even though they aren't involved in a higher-than-average number of the incidents. (And it may be the liberals and gun-grabbers who are so quick to point them out..)
ReplyDeleteVietnam vets suffered through this for decades. I was actually told by an employer that he was afraid to hire me because 'Vietnam veterans are usually unstable'. A fantasy that had been fueled for years by reporting and hearsay.
06:38 and 9:01
ReplyDeleteBoth hit it on the head
Amazing! And how many of these vets become cops? Many of them!
ReplyDeleteif you were trained properly and performed as you should have , there should be no problem with mental health
ReplyDeleteso you think someone can be 'trained' to improve their mental health?
, of course they have mental issues , they have always had mental issues.
oh, guess not.
your whole statement is a contradiction lol. I think maybe you have mental health issues. I guess you were not trained nor performed correctly.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has quietly released a new report on post-traumatic stress disorder, showing that since 9/11, nearly 30 percent of the 834,463 Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans treated at V.A. hospitals and clinics have been diagnosed with PTSD.
ReplyDeleteVeterans advocates say the new V.A. report is the most damning evidence yet of the profound impact multiple deployments have had on American service men and women since 9/11. Troops who’ve been deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan are more than three times as likely as soldiers with no previous deployments to screen positive for PTSD and major depression, according to a 2010 study published by the American Journal for Public Health.
The report, which revealed that 247,243 veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have been diagnosed with PTSD, was buried on the V.A.’s website without fanfare.
@5:48 thank you!! Whomever keeps posting this response concerning vets is definitely out there. As a veteran I've yet to see one soldier exposed to war that didn't have some sort of effects. This guy probably drinks a fifth a day but he's normal right ?? The vets are being sent into harms way with faulty equipment, depleted ranks and deployment at all time highs. Then to make it home only to get screwed by the VA on care and benifits. But I'm sure the previous blogger is one of those guys that has nothing better to do but go to VA hospitals and clinics and talk about the good old days
ReplyDelete