Many Iraq vets seek mental health care

WASHINGTON – More than one in three soldiers and Marines who have served in Iraq later sought help for mental health problems, according to a comprehensive snapshot by Army experts of the psyches of men and women returning from war in Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflicts.

The reports from more than 300,000 soldiers and Marines returning from several theaters paint an unusually specific picture of the psychological impact of the various conflicts. Those returning from Iraq consistently reported more psychic distress than those returning from Afghanistan and conflicts such as those in Bosnia or Kosovo.

Iraq veterans are far more likely to have witnessed people getting wounded or killed, to have experienced combat, and to have had aggressive or suicidal thoughts, the report said. Nearly twice as many of those returning from Iraq reported having a mental health problem – or were hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder – compared with troops returning from Afghanistan.

In questionnaires filled out after deployment, more than half of all returning soldiers and Marines reported that they “felt in great danger of being killed” in Iraq and 2,411 reported having thoughts of killing themselves, the report found. It did not have comparable data for earlier conflicts.

Earlier research has suggested that 12 percent to 20 percent of combat veterans develop post traumatic stress disorder, which produces flashbacks, nightmares and intrusive thoughts that disrupt work and home life. The new study found that Iraq veterans are being diagnosed with mental disorders at the rate of 12 percent per year.

Experts cautioned, however, that they do not have good ways to predict how many people will need help over time; researchers have found that nearly two thirds of Iraq veterans who “screened positive” for PTSD and other psychiatric disorders are not receiving treatment.