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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD-10-07 Issue: The Veterans Healthcare Administration has not yet taken sufficient action to address the effects of combat-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among America’s women military veterans. Background: The nature of the combat in Iraq and Afghanistan is putting service members at an increased risk for PTSD compared to those of past wars. Service members are serving multiple tours, and the intensity of the conflict is strong and constant. And in these wars without fronts, “combat support troops” are just as likely to be affected by the same traumas as traditional “combat arms” personnel. This has particularly important implications for our female soldiers, who now constitute about 16 percent of our active duty fighting force. Studies on women serving in combat zones in prior conflicts have found that women who experience sexual trauma had significantly higher rates of PTSD than woman who had not experienced sexual trauma. Therefore, many of the women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan face dual causes of PTSD. Studies conducted at the Durham, North Carolina VAMC Comprehensive Women’s Health Center have demonstrated higher rates of suicidal tendencies among women veterans suffering depression with co-morbid PTSD. Because of the number of women veterans who are now de facto combat veterans and because of the nature of the nature of conflicts in both Afghanistan and particularly Iraq, women veterans have entered a whole new world of need. Proposed Position: VVA shall seek to ensure that the VA has both the ability and the capacity to provide gender-specific in-patient and out-patient care and treatment for both combat and sexual trauma related PTSD, and that psychosocial services are fully integrated into the primary care provided to women veterans. Financial Impact Statement: In accordance with motion 8 passed at VVA January 2002 National Board of Directors meeting which charges this committee with reviewing its relevant Resolutions and determining an expenditure estimate required to implement the Resolution, presented for consideration at the 2007 National Convention; this committee submits that implementation of the foregoing Resolution shall be at no cost to National except where staff time may be required for legislative action
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In The News 7/6/2006 Read the latest on the IOM sub- committees No Across-the-Board Review of PTSD Cases Vietnam Veterans of America Says VA Review Will Penalize PTSD Veterans VVA's Self-Help Study Results The results of a study entitled "Spirituality and PTSD in Vietnam Combat Veterans" can be found by clicking on the name of the study. Special Report “Never Shall One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another…” Steve Robinson, Executive Director of the National Gulf War Resource Center*, has just released an excellent report on mental health and the military in Iraq. The report includes a great deal of information that has not received very much press coverage to date. Go to the report - Hidden Toll of the Iraq War: Mental Health and the Military
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