PTSD Is a Nightmare. A Fully Funded VA Can Provide Relief.
PTSD is a scourge for military veterans. The good news is that the VA system provides specialized, high-quality care for PTSD; the bad news is that corporate-friendly politicians are privatizing this vital public health system.
Signboard of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Washington. DC. (Kiyoshi Tanno / Getty Images)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the often-hidden wound of war.
Post-9/11 wars added hundreds of thousands of former service members to the patient rolls of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) — the nation’s largest public health care system — to get treatment for anger and depression, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and past exposure to military sexual trauma. About 18 percent of returning Afghanistan and Iraq vets have been diagnosed with PTSD.
The importance of the VA’s specialized, high-quality care for nine million patients is well documented in Invisible Storm: A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD, a new book by Army veteran Jason Kander, and a just-released documentary called Here. Is. Better. Directed by Emmy Award winner Jack Youngelson, the movie follows Kander and three other former soldiers as they seek VA retreat to improve their mental health.
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