Stress, Suicide: Tough Wounds For The US Army

Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Image from The New York Times)

From Yahoo News/AFP:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and record-high suicide rates are haunting American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, amid a taboo over mental distress.

At the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, psychological help is part and parcel of the care provided to soldiers wounded in combat, according to Colonel John Bradley, chief of the hospital's psychiatric department.

"We don't wait for a declaration of emotional distress or dysfunction but we rather see the patient right from the beginning. We are looking for early signs of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), depression or difficulty coping with their battle injuries," he told AFP.

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