Troops: Mental health care sparse in theater

[unhappycamper]

Troops: Mental health care sparse in theater
By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 7, 2008 7:55:47 EST

WASHINGTON — U.S. troops on the battlefield found it harder to get the mental health care they needed last year, when violence rose in Afghanistan and new tactics pushed soldiers in Iraq farther from their operating bases.

A report the Army released Thursday recommends sending civilian psychiatrists to the warfront, supplementing members of the uniformed mental health corps.

Surveying a force strained by its seventh year of war, officials found that more than one in four soldiers on repeat tours of duty screened positive for anxiety, depression and other mental health problems. That was comparable to the previous year.

The report found more troops reported marital problems, an increased suicide rate, higher morale in Iraq but a greater percentage of depression among soldiers in Afghanistan.

“They do show the effects of a long war,” said Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_morale_030608/