Lack of mental health workers worries senator

[unhappycamper]

Lack of mental health workers worries senator
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Apr 16, 2008 5:56:23 EDT

One of the chief architects of last year’s Wounded Warrior Act will press the service surgeons general about why the Defense Department doesn’t have enough psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health counselors to deal with the flood of combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., will have the opportunity to question the surgeons general at a Wednesday hearing before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Murray expressed concern that the Defense Department has not hired enough specialists to deal with mental health issues created by extended deployments, the stress of combat and other issues.

“The fact that we aren’t meeting the demand for our troops’ psychological health needs with qualified professionals is a great concern of mine,” she said in a telephone interview. “The Pentagon needs to tell us what they are doing to fill the gaps in the system, particularly when troops are being sent back into the field for their third and fourth tours.”

The answers are important, Murray said, because “all Americans need to know that the Pentagon is making this a top health priority and that innovative solutions are on the horizon.”


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/military_mentalhealth_surgeonsgeneral_041508w/