It took some four decades and Sadly two more Wars of Choice to finally not only embed firmly into the minds of the human race the long hidden and denied results of our wars and destructive occupations of others. Not only related to combat PTSD and the soldier but the civilian populations occupied, that very seldom are mentioned as occupations continue, but also to the civilians within populations who live through traumatic life experiences and have suffered in silence and misdiagnosed, Finally numerous researchers and research is being performed and funded to understand much better the results on the human minds from our hells on earth especially by choice and not need! This just being the latest.
June 22, 2011 - Thousands of American troops will be coming home from Afghanistan soon. On Wednesday night, President Barack Obama announced a new exit strategy and a major troop reduction which could result in a total of 33,000 men and women returning home over the next 15 months.
And many will be coming home suffering from a disorder that's now being described as an epidemic, wounds of war worse than anyone ever imagined. The latest research was unveiled in San Francisco Wednesday on post traumatic stress disorder.
Doctors now say PTSD is not just mental it is a disorder that affects the entire body. Vets with PTSD are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, heart disease and other illnesses and these troops that survived war, are dying earlier at home.
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Shell shock, battle fatigue, post traumatic stress disorder, whatever the name, studies show as many as 20 percent of all vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan live with PTSD and new research just released by the San Francisco VA Medical Center confirms what many vets have long known: PTSD is not just an illness that haunts the mind, it affects the entire body.
Former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D- Rhode Island, now a health care advocate, was on hand for Wednesday's announcement.
"For many of our soldiers the war is just beginning. So the question is are we going to be there for them as they were there for us?" said Kennedy.
The research found that Iraq and Afghanistan war vets with PTSD are two to three times more likely than vets without PTSD to suffer from heart disease. Older vets with PTSD are twice as likely to develop dementia and vets with PTSD are less likely to survive a year after undergoing surgery.
"There is something about the mind-body connection and the impact that having PTSD has on the body that has a wear and tear effect," said researcher Dr. Thomas Neylan from the San Francisco VA Medical Center. {read more}
Jun 24-26, 2011 - This week's announcement by President Obama that combat troops will soon be withdrawn from Afghanistan means a different kind of surge is on the way -- a surge of veterans suffering the invisible wounds of war. Even though mental scars can be harder to see than missing limbs, new research measures the physical evidence of traumatic brain injury. Reporter: Alison St. John
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