Veterans Mental Health Research Paper

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

Today, hundreds of thousands of service men and women and recent military veterans have seen combat. Many have been shot at, seen their buddies killed, or witnessed death up close. These are types of events that can lead to Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder ("Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD: A Growing Epidemic. “) Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event can be diagnosed with PTSD but research shows, military men and women are more susceptible to having PTSD (PTSD: A Growing Epidemic.) And, with little help from the US, many Veterans do not get the help they need or get treated for PTSD. Military men and women begin to

I believe that it is the best interest of veterans, whom have served the military in any capacity to be afforded not just medication, but also some form of counseling. Being a veteran myself I have experienced: over medicating by the government, not receiving any form of counseling, and when I was given an appointment it was six months from the day that it was scheduled.

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) has been tasked with providing support and benefits to Veterans after they have completed their service. However, many Veterans are reporting difficulty accessing care due to systematic barriers within the VA’s Veterans Health Administration (Oliver, 2007). Complex eligibility requirements, long wait lists and lack of providers are a few of the issues Veterans are faced with when trying to access health and mental health care. Additionally, studies indicate that veterans, predominantly those from the recent wars in Iran and Iraq, have disproportionately high amounts of mental illness (Shim & Rust, 2013). These same veterans are experiencing difficulty accessing mental health care due to issues around a backlog of healthcare eligibility applications and a shortage of mental health providers through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which operates the Nation’s largest, integrated health care delivery system (APA, 2014). In 2014, at the request of the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the merit of the allegations of mismanagement at the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) and the Health Eligibility Center (HEC).

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, there are more than 1,500 locations to receive treatment and care across the country, which divides up to approximately 30 locations per state. The lack of locations may limit some veterans from receiving the care they desire. “Veterans who utilize VA services have worse health status that the general population” (Nelson, Taylor, Lurie, Escarce, McFarland, & Finn, 2011). This implies that the services offered are not sufficient enough to meet the needs of veterans. According to Jack Downing, President and CEO of Soldier On, “Seventy percent of veterans drive twenty-five miles or more to a VA facility.” These facts prove that we need more access for veterans so that they can get the

According to the study done by Wenzel and Caskey of the Medical Care Journal, homeless veterans do not utilize medical, psychiatric and substance abuse services offered by various government sources including the VA. Some of the factors affected why Veterans are not seeking out care include age, distance to a clinic, severity of the illness, perceived treatment need, access to care, and whether they had received any sort of engagement or encouragement about the subject. One solution that could greatly increase the odds of Veterans seeking out and obtaining help for these factors would include changing the stigma and culture surrounding these factors such as mental illness and addiction. Policies must be changed in how the mental health providers initiate intervention, create a positive platform and support system for treatment and follow through without delay initiating care will greatly change the culture related to mental illness and addiction surrounding

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (commonly known as PTSD) is an important issue associated with military soldiers. The primary focus of this paper will be on the causes of PTSD and the effects it has on returning soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will attempt to elaborate on the soldiers' experiences through my own experiences in combat both in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will explain what PTSD is, look at the history of PTSD, how people get it, and differences of PTSD between men and women, and treatment options.

Recent research has revealed that the majority of Veterans with a mental disorder under-utilize mental health services [3]. Among OEF/OIF Active Duty Veterans, only 23-40% of those with mental

Veteran populations supported by the Veteran Health Administration has a problem when their patients need help that requires counseling. A report produced examining the different problems that exist was produced in April 2012. The Veterans Affairs (VA) was investigated by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) in a report entitled “Review of Veterans’ Access to Mental Health Care.” (Howley, 2014). It was determined that the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) does not have a method to track whether patients are provided timely access to mental health services (Office of Inspector General, 2013). VHA failures include neglecting to meet first-time patients with timely mental health evaluations and existing patients often waited more

Overview of the Assumptions of the Intervention (This Includes Limitations): The research is inconsistent, researchers have failed to acknowledge numerous issues, the lack of advocacy at the state and federal levels, which leads to lack of funding, therefore leading to a low number of these systems being implemented, which leads to disparities in services/treatment/interventions, which overall leads to poor quality of patient care. There is currently an issue with getting veterans to seek these services because they have a whole other added element to their illness (es)…

When examining how specifically the system has been failing over the years, one simply only has to note the number of veterans actually receiving care. For example, several records show that many veterans were being subjected to waits exceeding the thirty day maximum described by the VA policy (Williams). These long waits would mean the difference between recovery and agony and even life and death for some cases. The problem with these extended wait times has actually become so bad that in May of 2011, a federal appeals court ruled that the VA had actually violated the rights of veterans by subjecting them to long waits when dealing with mental disorders (“Preface”). Other occurrences showed that the program’s handling of the mental impacts of war were often insufficient and not preemptive or proactive enough. For instance, the VA has had a tumultuous history of dealing with mental disorders such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with veterans throughout the years. One commonly noted instance was the 2013 report indicating that only 53 percent of veterans with a primary diagnosis of PTSD received the minimum care plan (Associated Press). Even as these illnesses have been more closely studied, many veterans continue to experience improper forms of

and veterans struggling with psychological problems. Do not let the bad press related to the VA medical services guide your decisions to use veteran services or not. All medical services are in a state of flux, and we must work to improve them for seniors and veterans. In case you are wondering, I am a Vietnam veteran; and I lost three dear friends. One won the Silver Star for his valor during the battle at Khe Sanh. A salute to all those who serviced our country!

According to the mayo clinic staff, “Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event”. Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. This particular condition is problematic among veterans, due to the brutal, sometimes savage work they do. The suicide rates among U.S. veterans are rising, and maltreated PTSD could be a factor in that. The government is trying to help veterans with this issue, but just not well

Many challenges still remain as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seek available access to mental health care. These challenges include the resistance and stigma to seek care, lack of

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