Approximately one in six soldiers returning from the war in Iraq shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other emotional disorders, according to a study published July 1, 2004, in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study is the first of its kind to examine the mental health of troops returning from Iraq.
More than 6,000 soldiers were surveyed in the months before and after their term of service in Iraq or Afghanistan. About 17 percent of those who fought in Iraq reported symptoms of major depression, severe anxiety or post traumatic stress disorder, compared with about 11 percent of those who served in Afghanistan.
These rates are slightly higher than those found among soldiers in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and lower than the rates in Vietnam veterans—about 1,000,000 in Vietnam suffered or still suffer from PTSD. However, mental health studies of soldiers in those earlier conflicts were carried out years — or in Vietnam, decades — after the troops returned home. This new study examined soldiers before deployment and within three to four months after they returned.
Soldiers in Iraq have more contact with the enemy and more exposure to terrorist attacks than did troops in the earlier Iraq war, and National Guardsmen and Reserve troops are playing a larger role and are under great stress due to "stop-loss" policies keeping them in the war longer than they signed up for. However, soldiers in Iraq have more public support than did the veterans returning from Vietnam.
Those who had the largest number of symptoms were also the ones least likely to seek help, the study found. More than half the soldiers who met the criteria for a psychiatric disorder reported that they had not sought help out of fear that they would be stigmatized or their careers would be harmed.
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