Veterans With Mental Health Issues Increasing Dramatically

Mental Health Issues Among Veterans Increase Dramatically 07/18/09. A new study finds more veterans being diagnosed with mental health issues. The study was posted Thursday on the web site of The American Journal of Public Health. The New York Times reports: "A new study has found that more than one-third of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who enrolled in the veterans health system after 2001 received a diagnosis of a mental health problem, most often post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. The study by researchers at the San Francisco Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, also found that the number of veterans found to have mental health problems rose steadily the longer they were out of the service. The study, released Thursday, was based on the department health records of 289,328 veterans involved in the two wars who used the veterans health system for the first time from April 1, 2002, to April 1, 2008." Kaiser Health News