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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! March 31, 2005 The Looming DoomBy GreyhawkIraq - been there, done that, got the tee-shirt. Now I'm home, safe and sound with my family, something for which I give thanks every day. And almost every day it seems I read something that tells me I beat the odds. Take this story, for instance, depicting a potential crisis emerging at VA healthcare facilities Mental Disorders Are On The Rise Among Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans Some frightening numbers, but like the oft-cited suicide statistic (raw numbers are often tossed about, but it's rarely noted that military suicides lag those of similar demographics in the civilian sector) the meaningful data would be how do these veteran's numbers compare to the population as a whole? Drug or alcohol abuse was diagnosed in 9% of patients. All Americans: An estimated 17.6 million American adults (8.5 percent) meet standard diagnostic criteria for an alcohol use disorder and approximately 4.2 million (2 percent) meet criteria for a drug use disorder. Overall, about one-tenth (9.4 percent) of American adults, or 19.4 million persons, meet clinical criteria for a substance use disorder -- either an alcohol or drug use disorder or both -- according to results from the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) reported in the current Archives of General Psychiatry [Volume 61, August 2004: 807-816].In other words, the numbers are amazingly similar at 9 percent. Seven percent were diagnosed with depression. Of the American population as a whole, Dr. Kessler and his colleagues found that 6.6 percent of adults in America had major depression in a year and that 16.2 percent -- or about one in six people -- were likely to have major episodes in their lifetimes. The rates did not differ based on where people lived but varied for men and women and by income level.Another amazing similarity. 6% had anxiety disorders, such as phobias and panic. America: As a group, anxiety disorders afflict nearly nine percent of Americans during any six-month period. Symptoms can be so severe that patients are almost totally disabled -- too terrified to leave their homes, to enter the elevator that takes them to their offices, to attend parties or to shop for food. Leaving PTSD - diagnosed in 10% of patients. The National Institute of Mental Health says PTSD affects about 5.2 million adult Americans. This would be about 2.5 percent of the population based on the conversions used above. You'd expect the numbers to be higher among returning combat vets - but you'd be wrong. Sharp readers noted that there's another reduction that must be applied to the military totals above. You see, the percentages given were percentages of patients. Repeating: Records show that 20% of eligible ex-soldiers came to VA hospitals seeking medical treatment between October 2003 and February 2005. Overall, 26% of them were diagnosed with mental disorders. So only about one quarter of one fifth of all vets were diagnosed with any disorder. Since I took math in college I'll tell you this means only 5% of all vets were diagnosed with anything. So in reality, only 2% (10% of 20%) were diagnosed with PTSD - and this was the most common diagnosis. If all the various claims above are accurate - and I've no reason to dispute them, the numbers turn out like this: PTSD: 2.4% / 2% Let's be clear about this: returning vets deserve the best treatment available. Spare no expense! But these numbers for my fellow vets are so low they're stunning, especially in an article headlined "Mental Disorders Are On The Rise Among Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans - Funding cuts could overburden system". While that might be factual, it also appears intentionally deceptive. Perhaps we've got another case of a missing headline? Posted by Greyhawk / March 31, 2005 9:23 PM | Permalink 23 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
Another important disctinction is that the majority of cases would be classified as mild.
The few sensational cases will be no doubt played up strongly in the press. Likewise, as with many incidents involving "Vietnam veterans" the media will never recant when it turns out that the homeless guy/bank robber/wife beater they did the big lead story on yesterday was lying about being a vet.
The NEJM has a history of deceptive and ideologically driven reporting in its journal. That's not to say it isn't esteemed for 90% of the articles within, ubt some others have been heavily criticized. It's not what it used to be... like the Lancet, but not quite as bad.
Remember the '50% of all bankruptcies caused by medical bills' article that turned out to be junk science?
Ahhh.. but the numbers are legit. It's the spin that won't be. Expect lots of stories using that 1 in 4 figure, without specifying that's 1 in 4 of teh twenty percent that came in at all. Ditto that 10% with PTSD number. It's born to be a victim of lefty reality abuse.
Good job! Hard to keep the MSM honest.
I agree that the numbers in the article are misleading...
But your numbers assume that the 80% of veterans who did not go to the VA were not experiencing any of the afflictions mentioned. I don't think we can be so sure that there aren't undiagnosed or untreated cases of PTSD, depression or alcoholism out there.
Nice post. Lying with statistics is a pretty old game. Catching people at it - priceless.
Beautiful post, Greyhawk!
I remember the Media War Cry of Iraq suicides, parroted by Andy Rooney. Shot that down the day it was released and again the day Andy Rooney blathered about it.
Your post is that X's Ten!
Excellent. Thank you for the application of common sense and diligent research.
Cheers!
Jay is right; your numbers are probably too low, because it's not an apples-to-apples comparison.
You've certainly discredited the figures used in this article (which is your main point), but you haven't conclusively shown that the true figures for vets are actually lower than the population as a whole (although I wouldn't be surprised for most of them other than PTSD).
Jay is not right.
We are dealing with averages. Even if the 80% who do not go to the VA experience "average" problems with alcoholism, PTSD, etc, there is no increase among the Iraq, Afghanistan veteran population as compared to the population as a whole.
And what Greyhawk is pointing out is that even among the 20% who did show at the VA, the results were, in most cases, at or below the level of the same problems experienced by average Americans.
Thanks Greyhawk,
My daughter's teacher told the class about this report in their 8th grade Global Awareness (propaganda) class. When she told me after school I did some similar research and emailed the teacher to check his facts before teaching propaganda. Your research is much better. I have 16 years active duty and many of my daughter's teachers are learning to hate me. I teach my daughter to think for herself and to question everything.
The one thing you didn't comment upon is the old canard that VA benefits are being "cut". Actually, the 2005 budget shows a modest increase in VA benefits, not a "cut", as does the projected 2006 budget. The increase is less than last year's, and not as high as asked for, but it IS an increase.
Wow. Guess I am one of the lucky ones as well. Come to think of it, so are the other 6 guys I work with. What are the odds of that?
Jay, I see your point, but who is to say there are no civillians who are undiognosed or untreated out there?
The estimates for the civilian population are supposed to take undiagnosed cases into account, in theory.
The true numbers for the military population as a whole fall somewhere between the numbers in the article and Greyhawk's second set of figures. Where exactly they fall is hard to estimate; it depends on how closely correlated the condition is with seeking medical treatment.
For example: if this article had said that 20% of soldiers being treated have green eyes, it would be safe to assume that 20% of soldiers have green eyes, since eye color and hospital visitation are uncorrelated. But if this article had said that 100% of soldiers being treated have medical problems, this would not mean that 100% of all soldiers have medical problems, since having a medical problem and visiting the hospital are highly correlated.
So if I had to guess, I'd say that the true number of PTSD sufferers is closer to the low number (2%) while the true number of alcoholics is closer to the high number (9%). But that's just a guess.
Anyhow, these ranges fall at or below national averages; Greyhawk's point is proven. USA Today is basically lying to us.
Yeah, it's obviously a flawed story. But my problem with it is that they put it on the front page of the paper. This should have been a brief.
What is also no reported is that when ANY vet goes to a VA center, clinic or hospital and says "I just came back from Iraq/Afghanistan and I find my self getting pissed off alot more than I used to" it gets reported as a case of PTSD. This inflates the numbers and is used to justify more money for VA centers I would imagine. Not that they don't need the money to fo their job, but it looks like the MSM is just retredding the "Crazy Viet Vet" myth for modern consumption.
Well, this report may not be valid, but we vets will probably have to fight to keep our earned VA benefits, and keep them from being eroded. American politicians have short memories after the vets come home and the parades are over.
Here's my problem with the report. It claims that the numbers are rising, but it doesn't say how it's rising (raw numbers, proportion of vets checking in, etc.), or what it's rising from. What was the # before?
In other words, don't trust the media to report science accurately or competantly.
This is my issue with the related hype. It paints a broad picture that all returning vets are going to be psycho. As an OIF vet, I take very serious offense to that. As a medical type, I understand that folks react to different stress in different ways. I was never in any serious firefights, but I wasn't sheltered from death and gory stuff either. AND I'M FINE! As are the majority of vets coming home. As are the vast majority of the Vietnam Vets. Yeah, we have some issues, but to say we're all going to get PTSD is ludicrous.
Ouch! Beautifully organized.
Another difficulty is that PTSD is *much* more likely to be diagnosed in a vet than a civilian. Given two cases with identical histories and symptoms, a doctor would be much more likely to attribute the symptoms to PTSD in a vet than a civilian.
Of course, it really is impossible to glean any useful information from the article. Military types are a very different demographic than the population at large. I assume that overall there is less mental illness, less substance abuse, etc since they wouldn't be accepted in the first place. The best study would compare rates of disorders in combat vets and members of the military who have not seen combat. It would be relatively simple. However, even this would tell us nothing more than war is mentally stressful, which is not big surprise. Any way you slice it, this is not a story.
Well, I am sure that a couple of people here know from which they speak.
I am not including of course the people at MSM which know not of what they speak.
But I can speak a little about this subject (PTSD).
When I got back to the world in late 69 and after I got out of W. Reed in sprink 70, and after I had been able to get out of the house and get almost back to "normal" and consider getting a job (sometime in the late summer of 70), I thought that I was fine and dandy. Even if I had such a scar running from almost top to bottom in the left side of my back and numerous pieces of metal still trying to find their way out all over me, which gives new meaning to the words from a pretty girl, " what are all those red bumps"?
Any way to shorten this up by about TWENTY YEARS.
I stumbled, weaved, drank and screwed up my life until 1989, when my (sixth or seventh, I don't really know) ex-boss (he had just fired me as most of the other ones had) took me and a six pack to the Local VA Hospital (kinda local, 45 miles away).
Once deposited and introduced and all the thousands of pages of forms filled out by a helpful ex vet, I began my real homecoming and journey back to the world of the "normal".
I finished my tearing down and re-building of my soul sometime in the mid ninetys. It will never really be completed, you know..but brick by broken brick, it is being rebuilt and improved.
In 2001, the most expert and hard worker came into this world to help ol' Papa rebuild his soul and to help her grow up to be the most beautiful and light of his life. "Sweet Sarah", the little terror, the most beautiful Grand Daughter an old man could want, is giving me a new outlook and reason to continue on. To help her learn and grow into a young girl.
And if God permits, to be here when she is a young woman, on the way to the rest of her life.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA