A Political Debate On Stress Disorder

The chickens are coming home to roost for the Bush Administration as it begins to see the indirect costs of fighting “quick” conflicts overseas — conflicts that linger on and on and on. Guess what they found? The more soldiers you send to combat, the more they end up with trauma-related mental disorders, such as PTSD. And lo and behold, PTSD is expensive to treat.

So, normally when faced with a problem where a lot of people are seeking help for a disorder they have because of the conflict you sent them to, the VA and the government treats the veteran. But now, because of the spiraling costs of PTSD treatment, they are having arguments about what is and isn’t PTSD! Basically politicians and penny-pinching administrators are playing doctor to try and save on their budget, while stiffing the solider patient. Nice.

The spiraling cost of post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans has triggered a politically charged debate and ignited fears that the government is trying to limit expensive benefits for emotionally scarred troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the past five years, the number of veterans receiving compensation for the disorder commonly called PTSD has grown nearly seven times as fast as the number receiving benefits for disabilities in general, according to a report this year by the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs. A total of 215,871 veterans received PTSD benefit payments last year at a cost of $4.3 billion, up from $1.7 billion in 1999 — a jump of more than 150 percent.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Dec 2005
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.