Soldiers deal with “stressed” mental health system.
By on Feb 26th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Soldiers deal with “stressed” mental health system.
“Many Iraq war soldiers, veterans and their families are not getting needed psychological help because a stressed military’s mental health system is overwhelmed and understaffed, a task force of psychologists found.” The group’s report cited such problems as a “40 percent vacancy rate in active duty psychologists in the Army and Navy, resources diverted from family counselors and a weak transition for veterans leaving the military.”
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Military and VA medical care system is decrepit. More funding is needed badly.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:01 pmYeah I work for a stressed mental health system too. They are all stressed and dysfunctional, like the people they serve. Oy.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:01 pmThis administration is only concerned with getting the troops to Iraq so they can fight his little war. He is not concerned about supplying them, he is not concerned about taking care of them. He is a rich boy, and they are his tin soldiers.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:01 pmIt’s the same old game…
…just a lot more players added to the roster…
February 26th, 2007 at 12:03 pmNot surprised. What will BushCo do about it?
Blame Clinton.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:07 pmAnother example of Hillary Care.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:08 pmThat makes no sense Patrick. Non of this is “Hillary care”.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:10 pmAnother example of Hillary Care.
Comment by Patrick1
**tweet** BS-penalty
This is an example of the authoritarian conservative belief system, which includes the notion that an individual can handle everything independently and must “pull himself up by the bootstraps” to be a responsible person.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:15 pmTold ya. #6 — right on cue.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:15 pmSocialized medicine. This is what happens when the government provides your healthcare or in this case mental health care, disaster. What is really funny about this is the libs are upset because our soldiers are suffering from the very kind of healthcare they want to inflict on the rest of the American people.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:16 pm#5 -> #6
The ability to predict accurately is an indication of deep understanding.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:17 pm(Contrasted with BushCo’s lack of ability to accurately predict anything resulting from the attack on Iraq.)
That makes no sense Patrick. Non of this is “Hillary careâ€.
Comment by ForTruth
Patrick is one of those scumball repukes that think veteran benefits are welfare.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:17 pmThe ability to predict accurately is an indication of deep understanding.
(Contrasted with BushCo’s lack of ability to accurately predict anything resulting from the attack on Iraq.)
Comment by PatrioticLiberalChristian(PLC)
Such a charmer, you are.
I knew you’d make a great translator. :)
February 26th, 2007 at 12:20 pmSo, patrick, these returning injured troops should get their mental and physical health services through the good old American fee for service approach, that is, by paying for it out of their own pockets?
Those troops should be getting the BEST care and PAID BY THE GOVERNMEMNT, i.e the American taxpayers who sent them into battle in the first place. And none of this is “funny”.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:22 pmMaybe they could stop torturing prisoners and free up a few psychologists, although I’m not sure that torture specialists would be useful any longer as healers.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:24 pmNFD
February 26th, 2007 at 12:24 pmNational Facking Disgrace!
Zooey
No charming, just telling the scientific truth. Progressives have been making accurate predictions about events because they understand the social, biological, geological, etc scientific truths better than the conservatives.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:24 pmThey should get the best healthcare and socialized medicine isn’t it. Yes they should go to the private sector the best healthcare in the world and it would cost the taxpayers less to boot.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:26 pmPatrick thinks the private sector should be taking care of the wounded GIs that come home.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:26 pmNewsflash! The private sector is controlled by the insurance industry.
So which insurerer, Patty, are going to pony up and give wounded soldiers they’re medical care?
Answer ~ 0, none, nada, zip!
Dunderfreak
“YES! war is hell…
NO! I’ve never been…
…but these people should get over it…
…pull themselves up by their bootstraps…
…and not wait for government to solve their problems…”
-Conned’selfservative Bushites-
“Equal opportunity destroyers of lives“…
February 26th, 2007 at 12:29 pmLiberal predictions, Communism would work, tax increases would lead to economic growth, appeasement is a sound policy with the Islamists. All three turned out to be wrong.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:29 pmAnd patrick, the military is a socialistic entity as are most fire departments and police departments because they are charged with protecting the safety and security of our citizenry. Medical protection can and should be on par and not been profit driven.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:30 pmTaxpayers should send them to the private sector it would be cheaper than Hillary Care squaler.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:31 pmand it would cost the taxpayers less to boot.
Comment by Patrick1
We’re trembling in anticipation of your proof to this assertion…
February 26th, 2007 at 12:32 pmPatrick:
you are a fool, if we have the best health care, how come we are the FATTEST nation on the planet?
How come other nations with Social health care live longer, have less diseases, less infant death rates, and a better over all quality of life?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/799444.stm
February 26th, 2007 at 12:33 pm#17 Patrick1
Privatized healthcare is the worst. Why? Because they care about profit first, patient second. Therefore, they will deny care if they can in the name of profit, or give substandard care, in the name of profit.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:33 pmWe have the worst healthcare system in the developed world. All the good systems are socialized.
The only reason our government supported system is not working for soldiers is because the Republican criminals in this country keep cutting the funding. Any idiot should be able to see that it is not going to work if you do not give it adequate funding.
Patrick,
GO TO HELL CHICKENHAWK!!!!!
signed,
the many veterans who post here
(Note – To all other vets who post here, I hope I didn’t overstep my bounds in speaking for you. If I have offended any of you, you have my apologies)
February 26th, 2007 at 12:41 pmWho the hell said communism would work? Appeasing the Islamists? First off your generalized statement groups all muslims as terrorists, secondly, I seem to have missed the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Bush is the appeaser by allowing al queda and the taliban safe haven in Pakistan. Bush appeases the Saudi’s even though they drive planes into buildings and fund sunni insurgents. I know facts have a hard time penetrating your delusional, stereotypical, “liberals are bad” fantasy world, but can you at least try dunderhead.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:49 pmwhat the vets deserve is a ’smart card’ and we can go anywhere we want and the government will pay. folks, va costs are based off of medicare costs so all this saving money by going to the “chop shop(va)” is complete and utter bs.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:49 pmpatrick 1 you are an ignorant slut.
Once a soldier has laid down the possibility of being killed or seriously wounded, they should be able to walk into any clinic, hospital or medical facility & receive care / treatment.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:51 pmPlain & simple.
Trying to obfuscate the real issue is what you think your job is here. Apparently, you’ve succeeded, to some degree. Congratulation! You feel better now?
It sounds like you think the private sector is good for anything…good luck with that. They could care less what you think.
ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS PROFIT.
Profit is their God.
If you asked a big corporate CEO how much money or profit is enough, they wouldn’t be able to answer the question.
You know why?
BECAUSE IT”S NEVER ENOUGH!
Never.
So much for your theory, eh?
Now go back to your ‘One Party Political System’. By the way, isn’t that Communistic?
Dipshit.
#25
knock yourself out, i am one and you haven’t offended me. only this terrorist regime occupying my whitehouse has degragated my gi status.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:53 pmPatrick, I have a challenge for you. Go find a cross-section of vets from Nam or the Gulf or Iraqmire, and reiterate the claims you have made here. Don’t forget to mention that these people that need help are returning vets, some with no financial resources left from multiple deployments, and include the number of private insurers, hospitals, and practices who have publicly stated that they will treat these brave and desrving people for free in honor of their sacrifice.
If you survive the experience, you can come back here and tell us about all the positive responses you got.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:55 pmpatrick is a F***ing putz…..Just like the Son of a B***h’s that are behind this war for profit and abandening out troop’s once they serve the bull shit bush’s purposes….Lousy basterds all…..Stop the war’s, Impeach, Jail and seize all their assets now..Blessings
February 26th, 2007 at 1:05 pmWhile you are ranting, our soldiers are suffering at the hands of the very healthcare system the left wants to impose on the rest of the American people you should be ashamed. These brave men who have slain the left’s beloved Islamists deserve more than Cuban healthcare.
February 26th, 2007 at 1:09 pmPatrick (10) – If government provided health care is so bad why doesn’t George Bush reject it for himself and pay for his own health care? I would be delighted to quit paying for his health care.
February 26th, 2007 at 1:14 pmPatrick = Joke.
February 26th, 2007 at 1:26 pmBad, bad joke.
May your karma place you in a skid row tenement for your last poverty stricken days.
Patrick:
You are so right our soldiers should be shipped to France where they can get the best Healthcare in the world! Not here in America, where the best we have is “emergency health” you know after eating too much Mickey D’s and smoking too many marlboros, theres a better chance you’ll survive your heart attack, but after that all bets are off.
February 26th, 2007 at 1:29 pmComment by green917 — February 26, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
OK, you speak for me too.
Patrick, F*CK YOU
February 26th, 2007 at 1:29 pmPatrick it sounds like you could use a good therapist…..
February 26th, 2007 at 1:29 pmPatrick1
While you are ranting, our soldiers are suffering at the hands of the very lousy foreign and domestic policies of the “War President” you adore and want to impose on the rest of the American people and world. You should be ashamed and, unfortunately, are not. These brave men who have been slain for the neocon right’s beloved New American Century deserve more than sloganeering, profiteering, and power consolidating of corporation apologists and unregulated capitalism. Like so many of your neocon comrades, you can only march in circles to the right, unable to recognize alternatives outside your narrow path.
February 26th, 2007 at 1:34 pmI know I could use a good therapist except he quit a year ago to go work with the VA and said THEN how f-cked up it was and that there was a huge need because of the returning Iraq war vets with PTSD.
Patrick, STFU. It’s your beloved Bush Admininistration who are the “Islamists” best friends.
February 26th, 2007 at 1:40 pmOK, you speak for me too.
Patrick, F*CK YOU
Comment by hacker bob
I second that.
February 26th, 2007 at 1:43 pmFor 5 years the White House and Congress knew what was going on with our injured troops. The money for their care and support is going to Iraq and war profiteers. Let’s get real Americans and the Government don’t give a damn about what happens to our troops as we have seen. Even the Iraq troops are living in better places and getting better medicial care then United States troops. If Americans cared about the lip service they have been saying like Support our Troops none of this would have happen. You don’t hear an out cry from Americans about the conditions our troops are made to live. But if Paris or Anna Nicole were on the news that’s all we hear about. So save the lies and tell the truth. The White House has made the conditions the troops are in and Americans really don’t give a damn. Now more attention was paid to the Oscars then our bave men/women.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:16 pmPatrick would support the troops by having them denied health care by HMO’s, so they can make a little extra profit.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:42 pmAkaDad ~ Yup. It’s well known that PTS is a pre-existing condition.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:43 pmAs we speak, Darth and the chymp are working feverishly trying to sell us
February 26th, 2007 at 2:46 pm“The bombing of Iran”.
Kinda like a used car salesman parking a junker in your driveway and slipping the inflated invoice under your door.
Hey, you bought it!
Posted on Fri, Feb. 09, 2007:
” . . . an investigation by McClatchy Newspapers has found that even by its own measures, the VA isn’t prepared to give returning veterans the care that could best help them overcome destructive, and sometimes fatal, mental health ailments.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:49 pm“McClatchy relied on the VA’s own reports, as well as an analysis of VA data released under the federal Freedom of Information Act. McClatchy analyzed 200 million records, including every medical appointment in the system in 2005, accessed VA documents and spoke with mental health experts, veterans and their families from around the country.
“Among the findings:
“Despite a decade-long effort to treat veterans at all VA locations, nearly 100 local VA clinics provided virtually no mental health care in 2005. Beyond that, the intensity of treatment has worsened. Today, the average veteran with psychiatric troubles gets about one-third fewer visits with specialists than he would have received a decade ago.
“Mental health care is wildly inconsistent from state to state. In some places, veterans get individual psychotherapy sessions. In others, they meet mostly for group therapy. Some veterans are cared for by psychiatrists; others see social workers.
“And in some of its medical centers, the VA spends as much as $2,000 for outpatient psychiatric treatment for each veteran; in others, the outlay is only $500.
“The lack of adequate psychiatric care strikes hard in the western and rural states that have supplied a disproportionate share of the soldiers in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – often because of their large contingents of National Guard and Army Reserve troops. More often than not, mental health services in those states rank near the bottom in a key VA measure of access. Montana, for example, ranks fourth in sending troops to war, but last in the percentage of VA visits provided in 2005 for mental health care.”
For the full story: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/veterans/16636341.htm
Speaking of Iran, check out this slide-show of how beautiful it is.
http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html
February 26th, 2007 at 2:54 pmI posted this on another thread, but it seems appropriate here, too.
Have you made a comparison as to how many soldiers were lost in previous wars vs. the war in Iraq?
Comment by Kelly — February 26, 2007 @ 1:34 pm
I have made the calculation, and you won’t like it.
I normalized the data for the time spent in combat and compared WW2 to Iraq.
WW2: 23,000,000 combat-man-years, 292,131 KIA, 671,278 WIA, 4.22 casulaties per combat-man-year.
Iraq: 540,000 combat-man-years, 3,087 KIA, 22,401 WIA, 4.72 casulaties per combat-man-year.
This tells me two things:
1) Iraq is 12% bloodier for Americans than WW2, and
2) WIA in Iraq is about 3x better than WIA in WW2.
My sources are WW2 Almanac and globalsecurity-dot-org.
February 26th, 2007 at 3:24 pmMy brother is a disabled Viet Nam Vet. He now has colon cancer. He’s currently being treated at the VA hospital in our state. Dammed if they didn’t try and kill him. Accidently, of course. “Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians”. The nurses have been great, but you go above them and it’s idiots. Right now, the Afghan/Iraq vets haven’t hit our VA hospital and when they do, my brother says, it’ll be a horror show. The mental health services here are already over-stressed with Viet Nam vets, who don’t get the best of care, to begin with. What my brother’s going through has been a nightmare, botched surgery and chemotherapy mistakes, medications not being mailed, or the wrong ones sent. Messages and phone calls being ignored. A few years ago, my brother said the care at the VA hospital was pretty good, now it stinks. We’re seeing, the results of Bush’s presidency.
February 26th, 2007 at 3:28 pmThis just in, socialized medicine doesn’t work.
February 26th, 2007 at 4:26 pm#49
ditto from another vet. and same exact scenarios. if they are not trying to get rid of you they are trying to kill you. ALL IN THE NAME OF MONEY
February 26th, 2007 at 4:50 pmThis is an important problem. Those brave American Soldiers who escape physical harm from the Iraq conflict may be suffering from mental or emotional damage, which is as harmful as physical damage. CHIMPya and Torticola Cheney DON’T CARE about the welfare of the American Soldiers who sacrificed life, limb and SANITY as well as PEACE OF MIND for Bushland Uber Allies’ SELFISH and GREEDY ENDS, and the People of America must see to it that CHIMPya, Cheney and Bushland Uber Allies are PUNISHED FOR THEIR CRIMES AGAINST Americans and American Servicemen!!!!!
February 26th, 2007 at 7:29 pm