D-Ring news room
April 17, 2008 by Steve Field
From Reuters:
About 300,000 U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, but about half receive no care, an independent study said on Thursday.
The study by the RAND Corp. also estimated that another 320,000 troops have sustained a possible traumatic brain injury during deployment. But researchers could not say how many of those cases were serious or required treatment.
Billed as the first large-scale nongovernmental survey of its kind, the study found that stress disorder and depression afflict 18.5 percent of the more than 1.5 million U.S. forces who have deployed to the two war zones.
The numbers are roughly in line with previous studies. A February assessment by the U.S. Army that showed 17.9 percent of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from acute stress, depression or anxiety in 2007, down from 19.1 percent in 2006.
Steve Field,
Looking at RAND’s statistics on symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or depression from Iraq and Afghanistan at 300,000 estimated. Then you have the estimate from RAND on Traumatic Brain Injury at 320,000.
Just a couple of considerations, in your piece, you use the words “another” and “estimate”. It appears as if Rand is projecting these two issues as totally separate disorders. Has there been any any comparisons between these two studies? My question is about a possible overlap, with people being in both studies.
Let’s say your answer is yes. Then you are confronted with finding a protocol to separate the symptoms and attach them with the appropriate disorder.
Let’s say your answer is no, there is no overlap. What does this say about this study? Many times both disorders are shown to exist in the patient. This would, therefore, suggests this whole group have been ignored by RAND. This would be the greatest disservice to these Warriors.
As we look at the questions I have asked, I do not accuse RAND of ignoring any of these warriors. It is a start, but not a finish. I know the D.O.D. and the VA are trying to do their best. But do they truly understand? The only way to truly understand is to go through it. Does the warrior himself/herself know if they are victims? One thing to remember, We all look at TBI, we automatically think of two things, blast and head striking type of trauma as the only two causes. This is one of those things which can caused by environmental and other medical issues.
Sorry, it went so long, but this is an extremely complex issue.
Thank you,
Grumpy