In my ongoing struggle with questions over war vs. peace and so on, I came across this article on TIME magazine this morning. Since most of you know that I also have a strong interest in mental health issues (due to my own background, and the growing awareness that various friends have brought), you won't be surprised that the findings of the article are disturbing to me. Particularly when you consider that the age group the increased rates of mental illness caused by time at war is most dramatically affecting are those who are my peers.
Anyway, give it a read and let me know what you think!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
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It's hard to know what to say w/out seeing the original study. They provide no data of what these soldiers' psycho-social functioning was like before they left to compare the post-data to. It would also have been more helpful if the article had provided base-rates on what % of soldiers usually display depressive and PTSD symptoms following a military tour. PTSD frequently occurs at the same time as other psychological disorders, such as depression and substance abuse. For comparison: Epidemiologic data following the terrorist attacks in New York City found probable PTSD in approximately 7.5% of those exposed (and 9.7% met criteria for current depression—i.e., within last 30 days), though that rate was more than doubled for those in greatest proximity (Galea et al, 2002). However, that the 7.5% incidence had resolved to 0.6% six months after the first wave of data collection (Galea et al, 2003) strongly suggests that exposure to a traumatic event alone is insufficient to stimulate PTSD in a substantial majority of cases and that many early manifestations spontaneously resolve without orchestrated intervention.
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