Report: Antidepressants being used more among U.S. troops on front lines

[unhappycamper]

Source: stripes.com

Report: Antidepressants being used more among U.S. troops on front lines
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, June 11, 2007

For the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report in Time Magazine.

In its June 16 cover story, the magazine reports that the medicines are intended not only to help troops keep their cool but also to enable the already strapped Army to preserve its most precious resource: soldiers on the front lines.

Citing the Army’s fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report, using an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, Time wrote that about 12 percent of combat troops in Iraq and 17 percent of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope.

Escalating violence in Afghanistan and the more isolated mission have driven troops to rely more on medication there than in Iraq, military officials told Time.

Read more: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55445

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uhc comment: The article goes on to say "The magazine noted that the high number of soldiers on antidepressants is mirrored by that of the general population." I don't know about you, but I would prefer to have non-zonked out people holding the weapons.

[mac2]

1. They say a large number of Americans are on Prozac here

at home. This administration is dangerous to our health and lives.

[flashl]

2. Soldiers have been 'junked out' since the beginning of the 'war'

In These Times
May 31, 2006

The Iraq War—On Drugs

In Iraq and Afghanistan, when “suck it up” fails to snap a soldier out of depression or panic, the Army turns to drugs. “Soldiers I talked to were receiving bags of antidepressants and sleeping meds in Iraq, but not the trauma care they needed,” says Steve Robinson, a Defense Department intelligence analyst during the Clinton administration.

Sometimes sleeping pills, antidepressants and tranquilizers are prescribed by qualified personnel. Sometimes not. Sgt. Georg Anderas Pogany told Salon that after he broke down in Iraq, his team sergeant told him “to pull himself together, gave him two Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, and ordered him to sleep.”

Other soldiers self-medicate. “We were so junked out on Valium, we had no emotions anymore,” Iraq vet John Crawford told “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross. He and others in his unit in Iraq became addicted to Valium.

[raccoon]

3. If these servicepeople are taken prisoner or otherwise can't get their meds,

withdrawal from antidepressants, especially if you abruptly stop taking them, is a real mofo.

[flashl]

6. Or return to the states without follow-up medical care and prescriptions. nt

[roody]

4. Laying down their arms and saying no will

begin their healing.

[bdamomma]

5. this is disgraceful pumping them up on drugs, and who knows

what, this dependency will affect on their mental state.

that is that * mentality pump them up on drugs and let them kill, I hate that man.

[TrogL]

7. Why in hell are they prescribing anti-depressants for situational depression?

They're designed for chronic depression.

[progressoid]

10. After a few years there, it would certainly feel chronic.

I bet a majority of them will be on some sort of drug for a long time to come.

God knows what I'd swallow to make it through the day it I were in that position.

[hedgehog]

12. That's somewhat similar to what I was going to say. IMO, depression

is an inappropriate response to the environment. For example, if everything is going well and you can't get out of bed; that's depression. If your dog gets run over by a truck, sadness is appropriate. That's not depression.

Feeling like shit because you've been deployed the third time? That's just normal!

[LynnTheDem]

8. "For the first time in history" ...George W. bUsh's "historic legacy".

Such "troop support", george!

[tuckessee]

9. Nuts with guns and a license to kill. Hoo Yah! n/t

[blue neen]

11. Your post is very disrespectful.

People who take anti-depressants are not "nuts", as you say. Furthermore, it is disconcerting that our soldiers are so stressed from battle fatigue that they are unable to sleep. Far be it from you to label them "nuts". They deserve better.