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PTSD in US Veterans Cast Aside for “Cost Effectiveness”
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Adjustment Disorder is NOT PTSD
Last year more than 2400 Iraqi and Afghan veterans from the US Armed services were discharged from service due to “Personality Disorders”. As it is more “cost effective” to discharge troops with behavioral problems than to diagnose them with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and offer them service benefits, this has created a firestorm of controversy within the mental health community.
According to a Washington Post article that first broke the story, due to the high number of Purple Heart veterans returning home from the war in Iraq, the suggestion was made instead to diagnose patients instead with “Adjustment Disorder”. This diagnosis again is for more “cost effective” procedure as the criteria for this disorder does not entitle these veterans to benefits and the time it takes to diagnose and treat the disorder is far shorter and far cheaper than that of PTSD.
While Washington touts it’s veterans as those who have sacrificed the most for this country, it is outrageous, even so far as to say disgusting that they would encourage the VA employees to intentionally misdiagnose their patients returning from war.
For a quick primer, adjustment disorder has very little, if anything to do with the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Usually it is exhibited as a short term lack of adjustment to an identifiable stressor such as divorce or loss of job. Symptoms must occur within three months of the event(s) / stressor(s) and persisted for no longer than six months.
For veterans returning from war who have suffered violent injuries, watching their friends parish or maimed, or perhaps they themselves being involved in a maiming or death of an enemy combatant. This is far different than divorce or a family crisis and often times leads to chronic problems in life and bares a high risk of suicide.
It can only be presumed that when the VA discredits these extremely frightening feelings, that these feelings of isolation and suicide increase.
Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake said in a statement that the e-mail of the man with whom this policy was first leaked to the public was "inappropriate" and does not reflect VA policy. It has been "repudiated at the highest level of our health care organization,".
However, the man responsible for the e-mail was made to only apologize and still has his job. Reports of this practice still continue and veterans who have suffered extreme cases of PTSD are still not receiving benefits and even sometimes sent back to the front line for another tour of duty.
I think it is egregious that we as a nation can ask these men and women to die for our country, yet when they suffer at the hands of the sacrifice their country asks of them, those responsible for their care redefine and further place them in harms way. PTSD is a very real thing and 7.7 million new cases are diagnosed each year in America. The resources are there to study this in our troops as well and I suggest that we place the accolades of their sacrifice to one of the highest priorities and not simply throw it aside for “cost effectiveness”.
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