The American Psychoanalytic Association's board of directors (the Executive Council) approved a position statement on behalf of the organization urging “strong and comprehensive” attention to the mental health needs of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families. The statement was approved on June 21, 2007, at APsaA's Annual Meeting in Denver.
Work on this statement began early in the spring, but its timeliness was confirmed by the long anticipated report of the Pentagon task force on the subject issued June 15, 2007. The congressionally mandated yearlong study found mental health services for veterans “woefully inadequate” to respond to the “daunting and growing” psychological needs of today's war veterans.
The task force found that 38 percent of soldiers, 31 percent of Marines, 49 percent of Army National Guard members and 43 percent of Marine reservists reported symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, or other mental health problems. The findings were based on military surveys completed this year by service members 90 and 120 days after returning from deployment. More than one million troops have served at least one war zone deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan. These findings are comparable in significance to those reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine referenced in the position statement.
Gail Saltz, a member of APsaA appearing on CNN's “Paula Zahn Now” show at the end of July, mentioned the APsaA position statement and said, “We need to step up and say we're responsible for these people if we have sent them out there, and we're responsible for their families, because it affects the spouse at home and the children as well.”
The statement brought to fruition by the Societal Issues Division, chaired by Steve Sonnenberg, and the Committee on Social Issues, chaired by Mark Smaller, follows:
The American Psychoanalytic Association joins with other mental health professional organizations to urge strong and comprehensive government and private support for the mental health treatment of returning veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and their families. A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine estimates that one-third of all returning veterans are suffering from serious mental health and psychosocial disorders. Of those, 56 percent were diagnosed with more than one disorder including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and substance abuse. The highest rate of mental health problems was among veterans in the 18-24 year-old range, often those most exposed to front line combat.
As an organization of over 3,000 psychoanalysts committed to helping those who have suffered psychological problems often related to trauma, APsaA believes any lack of acknowledgment and appropriate treatment of this critical mental health issue will have a devastating impact on our soldiers, their families, their children, and society at large. Psychoanalytic research on transgenerational transmission of trauma has shown that children of traumatized and depressed parents often develop serious psychological and behavioral problems themselves. APsaA supports effective, comprehensive, and well-funded efforts to address this critical public health issue.