The Importance Of Mental Health Care For Veterans

As awareness grows relating to the mental health problems of those who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), much of the focus has been on providing adequate and effective care to the newest population of combat veterans. Although efforts have significantly increased with the employment of Evidence Based Practices (EBP) and while the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA), have updated their clinical practice guidelines, barriers remain and reaching the majority of this particular population remains a challenge.

In the “A Lifeline for Troubled Veterans” (2017), The Editorial Board insists that “ the government needs to do a lot more to prevent veteran suicides and homelessness”(2). The board relays this information to the reader through factual information regarding the government's knowing of this issue (“the government does not know what percentage of these veterans have acute mental health problems”(2)) and have not acknowledged their presence. He has gone through this trouble of making he thoughts known in order to finally get to help the veterans with only less than honorable discharges “to seek care at a V.A. Emergency room or by calling the Veterans Crisis Line”(2) from the government. The boards main purpose of writing this was to spread

Over the last decade, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drastically increased the need for effective mental health services and treatment for U.S. veterans and service members, especially those suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Nearly 1.5 million American service members have been deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) since the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001 (Price, Gros, Strachan, Ruggiero, & Acierno, 2013). Approximately 25% of soldiers and wounded warriors returning home from OEF/OIF present with mental illness due to combat-related violence and other trauma exposure (Steinberg & Eisner, 2015). According to Price and colleagues (2013), OEF/OIF soldiers and veterans are at greater risk for developing mental illness compared to others who served in past military operations.

Almost all service members will have reactions after returning from deployment. These behaviors and feelings are normal, especially during the first week at home. The most common mental health problem that some service members develop after witnessing or experiencing combat is PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder). Service members who had the courage to seek help will admit that they have trouble doing normal activities, like go to work, go to school, or spend time with people they care about. PTSD affects mood, behavior, and many cognitive functions, which are often times not noticeable to others. That being said, at my internship site the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) located in Sepulveda offers an evidence-based intervention (EBI),

two types of health need returning veterans, and their families might need Returning veterans and their families may have numerous health needs. One of those needs is mental health needs of the veteran. People have many several reasons for why they join the military, very few joins because they want to go to another country and fight a war. Regardless of their intentions, and how much training they receive, once a person goes through a military conflict it changes that person. Once they return from the conflict, they should obtain personalized counseling, not just a debriefing.

Rates of mental illness are rising among Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. This social problem has had significant consequences, such as spikes in homelessness, unemployment and suicides in this population. Many argue there are too many barriers to mental health treatment in a society that stigmatizes mental illness and undervalues mental health care. Research supports this assertion, particularly within the Veteran population (Greene-Shortridge, Britt, & Castro, 2007). System justification theory offers an explanation for why society stigmatizes mental illness in spite of the devastating consequences of treatment underutilization.

Countless numbers veterans that have served in the military are dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Men and women have experience detrimental incidents that caused them PTSD and some are unable to recover from it or cope with their own feelings, in many cases they are their own enemy because some know that they are need help however some refuse to address it because of their pride. The military initially show their troops to oppress their feelings and to deal with their feelings after returning back from war. Veterans are displaying symptoms of PTSD when they are returning home to extreme extend some are suicidal and homicidal. While in combat things are so up-tempo that it gives them minimum time about what is really going on around

Over 20 percent of military service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan reported symptoms of PTSD or depression but only a bit more than 50% of them have sought treatment. One reason for this is due to the fact that many of these veterans reside in rural areas

Interesting topic, I have always been interested in the impact mental illness have on veterans. You could have also selected your Ha to be a two-tailed test in which you state a number of suicides for the US civilians are not equals to the veteran female. By incorrectly accepting the null hypothesis you are rejecting the alternative hypothesis. In this case, you are saying the suicide amount is the same for female veteran and civilian females when they are not the same. This would cause false reports to the

The first step in the process: making an appointment with your primary care physician, second, get a referral from your primary care physician to see a case worker, third, talk to your case worker about your mental health issues, fourth, getting an appointment with a mental health care doctor, fifth, attending your mental health care appointment, after you have taken all of these steps 2-7 months may have gone by. In the EBSCO article,” VA Health System and Mental Health Treatment Retention” it states,” Throughout the entire of process of trying to attain mental health care the patient (you) maybe deteriorating mentally more and more each day. It is stated in the EBSCO article “Access to VA Services for Returning Veterans with PTSD” “This is unacceptable”. We as veterans have voluntarily served our country proudly, because of this service we at times come back with one or many mental illnesses. We deserve proper mental health care that is administered in a timely and safe manner.

For many years, the VA has offered health care to the men and women who have surrendered a large part of their lives to protect our nation. The VA has made great stride in providing specialized services to veterans such as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and Mental Health treatment. In fact, the VA is leading the field on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) research, but now that many of our men and women are returning home from war, the commitment that the VA made to provide accessible health services and a smooth transition from military life back to civilian life to these heroes and their dependents are not being granted in a timely manner. Studies show that suicide among veterans is the number one leading cause of death in the United States and

Hundreds of thousands of United States veterans are not able to leave the horrors of war on the battlefield (“Forever at War: Veterans Everyday Battles with PTSD” 1). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the reason why these courageous military service members cannot live a normal life when they are discharged. One out of every five military service members on combat tours—about 300,000 so far—return home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. According to the Rand Study, almost half of these cases go untreated because of the disgrace that the military and civil society attach to mental disorders (McGirk 1). The general population of the world has to admit that they have had a nightmare before. Imagine not being able to sleep one

T. Stecker, J. Fortney, F. Hamilton, and I. Ajzen, 2007, address that mental health symptoms have the likelihood to increase within post deployment for military veterans, especially for the ones who have seen combat. An estimated quarter of recent war veterans who are currently receiving care in the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Health Care System have reported mental health problems. Soldiers who have served in Iraq come home suffering from depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Statistics of Iraq soldiers meeting the criteria for depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is greater than the soldiers who served in Afghanistan. The mental health symptom rates for soldiers who served in Iraq were as high as 20% for PTSD, 18% for anxiety, and 15% for depression.

PTSD, depression, and the lack of treatment should all be taken into consideration when thinking about the military. Depression in soldiers can be caused by the length of deployment because they don’t see their families or friends for months.

War has caused many veterans to suffer from a condition known as PTSD. PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a condition where a veteran or soldier suffers from stress and anxiety on a regular basis that affects their everyday decisions. According to (Gabriela Acosta), “depression, post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD), anxiety, traumatic brain injury and other conditions as a result of their service, and these issues affect not only the service member, but also their spouses, children, extended families and friends.” There are many veterans whose mental health has changed the way they live and the way their peers around them live. This creates a more difficult environment for many of the closer peers and can affect their lives as much as it has affected the veteran’s life. This has long term effects that can lead to depression in the veterans and feelings of loneliness caused from a veterans experiences serving and being in the field of