Vets Shortchanged on PTSD Treatment By Staff Shortages
Flickr user qnr
By
Bob Brewin
A significant number of veterans never received adequate care from the VA.
Just over half of the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking treatment for PTSD from the Veterans Affairs Department end up with the recommended course of psychotherapy, the Institute of Medicine reported in a PTSD study released today.
In 2013, the IOM report said, a shortage in mental health staffers led to only 53 percent of those veterans with a primary diagnosis of PTSD and who sought care in the VA received the recommended eight sessions of psychotherapy within 14 weeks.
This only get worse as more and more vets of the recent, long wars seek help from the VA -- in some cases competing for resources with Vietnam veterans.