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Date: March 31, 2010
Contacts: Christine Stencel, Senior Media Relations Officer
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail <news@nas.edu>
for immediate release
Unanswered Questions, Lack of Data Hinder Agency Efforts to Meet
Needs of
WASHINGTON -- To help current and former military personnel of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families readjust to post-deployment life, the U.S. departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs need to gather information to answer many uncertainties, including how many mental health care providers are needed and where, what works best in treating traumatic brain injury (TBI) over the long term, and whether giving service members time to decompress before returning home would be beneficial, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. VA also needs to institute a process of forecasting the amount and types of resources necessary to meet the needs of the veterans and their families in the next 30 years or more when their demand for health care and disability compensation is likely to peak.
In addition, VA and DOD should oversee coordination and communication among the dozens of public and private programs created to serve current and former
This report presents preliminary findings of a two-phase study of the readjustment needs of current and former service members deployed to
"DOD and VA deserve credit for what they have done thus far to respond to the readjustment needs of individuals who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families, but in some instances the response has fallen short," said committee chair George Rutherford, Salvatore Pablo Lucia Professor and vice chair, department of epidemiology and biostatistics; and director, prevention and public health group, Global Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco. "For example, we heard repeatedly that there are not enough mental health providers to meet the demand. Job training and job loss due to multiple deployments are other serious issues facing these individuals, as is doctors' ability to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injuries. Our goal in the next phase of this study is to describe in more detail the educational, health, rehabilitation, and other services needed by military personnel, veterans, and their families as they transition back into life in the
Many wounds suffered in
TBI has been called the signature wound of the fighting in
The process of third-location decompression -- sending service members to an interim place between the country where they served and their home nation to rest and prepare themselves for going home -- has anecdotally resulted in other nations' troops experiencing smoother transitions to civilian life than an immediate return home, the committee found. Since little research has been conducted to support these accounts, however, the committee stopped short of recommending the practice for
DOD and VA need to ensure there are enough mental health professionals in the health care systems serving current and former military personnel and their families to provide treatment to those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and other mental health problems, and that these providers are located where they are needed, the report says. Reports from health care providers as well as service members indicate that providers are overwhelmed and wait times for services are long. DOD also needs to deal with service members' reluctance to report mental health problems and seek treatment, which may arise from agency policies to report these problems up the chain of command. DOD should review how it handles confidentiality and the relationship between seeking treatment and advancement in the armed services.
The report was requested by Congress and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the
Copies of Returning Home From
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[ This news release and report are available at http://national-academies.org ]
Board on the Health of Select Populations
Veterans, and Their Families
George W. Rutherford, M.D. (chair)
Salvatore Pablo Lucia Professor and Vice Chair
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and
Director
Prevention and Public Health Group
Global Health Sciences
Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Director
Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research
J.P. Gibbons Professor of Psychiatry
Medical Director
Biomedicine Business Area
National Security Technology Department
Professor and Director
Division of Rehabilitation Psychology
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Ryan D. Edwards, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Economics
Faculty Research Fellow
National Bureau of Economic Research
Gelman Professor and Chair
Department of Epidemiology
Professor and Director
Trauma and Loss Program
Department of Psychiatry
Richard A. Kulka, Ph.D.
Group Vice President, Survey Research
Abt Associates Inc.
Deputy Director
Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Professor of Family Studies,
Director, Center for Families, and
Director, Military Family Research Institute
Department of Child Development and Family Studies
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
Samuel J. Potolicchio, M.D.
Professor of Neurology
Department of Neurology
Scott L. Rauch, M.D.
Chair
Partners Psychiatry and Mental Health,
President and Psychiatrist in Chief
Professor of Psychiatry
Principal Scientist
Abt Associates Inc.
Professor of Health Policy and Management
Professor of Medicine
STAFF
Carolyn Fulco, M.S.
Study Director
Naoko Ishibe, Ph.D
Study Director