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Interestingly, back injury is reported second to psychiatric injury as a leading cause of military personnel non-return to duty.

Military personnel evacuated out of Iraq and Afghanistan because of back pain are unlikely to return to the line of duty regardless of the treatment they receive, according to research led by a Johns Hopkins pain management specialist.

In a study published in the  Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers found that just 13 percent of service members who left their units with back pain as their primary diagnosis eventually returned to duty in the field. Women, officers, those deployed in Afghanistan and those with previous back pain had better outcomes, but only marginally. Aside from combat injuries sustained during battle, the return-to-duty rate for spinal pain and other musculoskeletal disorders is lower than for any other disease or non-combat injury category except for psychiatric illness, the researchers said.
 

Read more here.

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In recognition of Mental Illness Awareness Week, October 4 - 10, the American Psychiatric Association is holding its annual symposium on Capitol Hill this Wednesday, September 30, with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to raise public awareness of and reduce the stigma of mental illnesses.

This year the symposium will focus on military mental health and is titled "Supporting Our Troops: New Research on Suicide and Substance Use Disorder."

Read more here.

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President Obama yesterday spoke with Veterans in Arizona.  He told them that traumatic brain injury and PTSD are the new wounds of war.  Those veterans in Vietnam and other wars who came home only to have depression, alcohol abuse, job loss, and the other "dominoes"  that fall for veterans can be substantially dealt with if treatment is received early enough for veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq.  The government, according to the President, is creating a culture of caring for veterans.

An excellent piece on PTSD in the military and what is being done to address it can be seen by clicking here.

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Dr. John Mann of Columbia Univeristy Medical Center will conduct the largest study of suicide and mental health among military personnel ever undertaken, with $50 million in funding from the U.S. Army.  The announcement came from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 25- to 44-year-olds in the United States. Historically, the suicide rate has been lower in the military than among civilians. In 2008 that pattern was reversed, with the suicide rate in the Army exceeding the age-adjusted rate in the civilian population (20.2 out of 100,000 vs. 19.2). While the stresses of the current wars, including long and repeated deployments and post-traumatic stress, are important potential contributors for research to address, suicidal behavior is a complex phenomenon. The study will examine a wide range of factors related to and independent of military service, including unit cohesion, exposure to combat-related trauma, personal and economic stresses, family history, childhood adversity and abuse, and overall mental health.

Read the full article here.

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Indiana National Guard Sgt. Gerald "G.J." Cassidy, who served his country in Bosnia and Iraq, died alone and ignored in a barracks at Fort Knox from an accidental drug overdose. His fate left a legacy that has changed the lives of thousands of wounded soldiers, Army officials say.

Cassidy began experiencing migraine headaches after a roadside bomb exploded about 11 feet from his Humvee in Iraq in August 2006. With diagnoses of post traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury.

One Fort Knox soldier told investigators, "The staff at the WTU did not keep accountability of soldiers and were not making any checks on the welfare of soldiers" with PTSD and brain injury.

On the day Cassidy died, his platoon sergeant reported him at formation when he actually hadn't seen him for two days.

After repeated calls from Melissa Cassidy after she had not heard from him in a couple of days, Sgt. Cassidy was found dead in his chair. A toxicology report from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology ruled his death accidental, caused by "multi-drug toxicity," compounded by coronary artery disease.

Excerpted from Soldier's hospital death leads to changes as published in Associated Press.  Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com

 

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