BOSTON, July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaking before an overflow audience of military personnel, healthcare professionals and the general public, three experts described what has become a growing public health crisis and offered solutions at a forum -- "Returning War Veterans: Meeting Health Needs of Veterans, Families and Communities" -- held recently at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology.
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"We are greatly concerned in this state about the 'invisible wounds of war' -- the mental health of our returning Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, the stress, depression and post traumatic stress disorder -- which have raised the specter of increasing levels of domestic violence and suicide. We need to begin focusing on their recuperation as well as building awareness and support programs with their families about what to expect when the veterans return," said Senator Richard T. Moore, State Senator and Chairman of the MA Health Care Financing Committee.
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National Guard and reservists seem to suffer more severe mental health consequences than those in the active duty military, and all suffer serious consequences from conflict, said Dr. Jaine Darwin, a Clinical Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School and Co-Director of SOFAR (Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists). SOFAR provides free psychological support, including prevention services to extended families of reserves and guards, from deployment through reunion and reintegration into society.
"When a soldier deploys, the whole family serves; when a soldier returns home, the whole family is impacted," stated Darwin, "Also the families of National Guard and Reservists are isolated in their communities during the soldier's deployment, and the soldier is often isolated upon return and back at a civilian job within a week of being home."
Darwin offered a shocking list of statistics including:
-- Suicide rates are skyrocketing. One thousand veterans attempt suicide each month
-- Child abuse and/or maltreatment rises by 42 percent in families where the other parent is deployed
-- Problems in relationships are four times higher after a return from a deployment; 20 percent of returned married troops are planning a divorce
To compound adjustments when a veteran returns to society, the soldier now has two families, the family of comrades with whom he/she has bonded, because each depends on the other for safety and support, and the family to whom the soldier returns at home.
In addition, trust and lack of trust can influence a soldier's behavior following battle and his/her return home, said Dr. Jonathan Shay, recently retired staff psychiatrist with the Veterans Administration in Boston. "While the enemy is important in causing reactions with a soldier, it is the social qualities of connection by people fighting side by side that affect the future mental health life of the combat soldier."
Solutions to explore? Three things that can reduce the trauma of war: keeping the members of units together; providing them good leadership; and putting them through intense and realistic training, according to Shay. "Soldiers must train together, fight together and be brought home together. We must get out of the individual replacement system. It is essential that soldiers fight alongside people they know and not strangers," he said.
How can we help the 28,000 soldiers who have concluded their military service and returned to Massachusetts? There is no road map, no experience and no established norms. According to Darwin, a soldier may return home, but the soldier's nervous system is still on high alert. As one family member said, "You get a
