Blog

Struggling to cope with an increasing number of veterans returning from combat with severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, the US military is experimenting with a number of alternate techniques to treat the disorder. One of the most successful of such techniques has been the use of service dogs.

An increasing number of veterans with severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are being paired off with service dogs that are specifically trained for this purpose. Experts believe that there are numerous benefits from using dogs as a part of therapy for veterans who have seen and experienced so much in combat. Several organizations are now providing dogs for veterans, at little or no cost. A number of businesses that train dogs for use by the blind have diversified into training dogs for use by veterans.

Even Congress has ordered the Department Of Veterans Affairs to conduct a study into the effectiveness of using such service dogs as therapy for persons with post traumatic stress disorder. Some lawmakers are even considering a proposal that would finance the training of service dogs. Such training can be expensive, with a price tag of $15,000 per dog.

However, the benefits of dogs in helping treat PTSD have very little basis in science. There are few scientific studies that show that a service dog relieves symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. Even California veteran’s benefits lawyers and people, who propagate the use of service dogs to help veterans with PTSD, admit that the dogs can't eliminate symptoms like anxiety and depression.

However, there seems to be some evidence that these dogs help veterans cope with flashbacks, nightmares and panic attacks. No one expects a service dog to dramatically relieve the symptoms of PTSD, but these animals can help veterans cope with their symptoms.

A soldier, who has received a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder, can expect months of trauma and anxiety, as he struggles to cope with the effects of combat-related stress. However, according to a study, not all goes downhill after a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder. In fact, some veterans seemed to show signs of developing positive life skills and coping skills, after an injury leading to post traumatic stress disorder.

The researchers who decided to probe the development of life skills after post traumatic stress disorder were intrigued by the idea that people learn from hardships. The results of the study are not really surprising to California veterans’ benefits lawyers. Throughout history, the idea that people learn from difficulties, make adjustments, and choose to focus on the brighter side of things, has been a common part of the human experience. However, the researchers wanted to actively investigate this phenomenon, and see how prevalent such growth is in soldiers who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.

The researchers interviewed a number of survivors who had suffered severe injuries, and older persons who had lost spouses. Both people who had suffered injuries and persons who had lost spouses had more or less the same reactions to their losses. They wished very strongly that the spouse had not died or that they had not suffered the injury, but they also felt very strongly that the traumatic experience did change their life in a positive manner.

The researchers found several areas in which persons reported positive changes after an injury or losing a spouse. For instance, the persons reported experiencing a greater appreciation for life, experiencing more personal strength and better relationships and also greater levels of spiritual satisfaction. These persons were able to find the strength to look for new possibilities for themselves.

Questions about the mental health of the soldier accused of killing 16 civilians, including women and children, during a shooting and stabbing rampage in Afghanistan are beginning to emerge. According to lawyers for the soldier, he had suffered a brain injury during an early deployment to Iraq.

It's not clear at this moment, just how far this brain injury defense is going to take this soldier. It wouldn't be the first time that veterans who have suffered brain injury in the battlefield, have been involved in assaults and other incidents of violence, and also not the first time that brain injury will be used as part of the defense in such cases.

There is little information about the soldier who was involved in the attack. All that California veterans benefits lawyers know is that he's a 38-year-old staff sergeant from the Lewis-McChord base in the US State of Washington. He is the father of 2. His lawyers say that he had suffered a traumatic brain injury during a deployment to Iraq in 2010.

Aggression has been linked to traumatic brain injury for a while. Several studies also indicate that people who have a predisposition to depression, and hostility are more likely to suffer from aggression-related behaviors after a traumatic brain injury.

In veterans, the risks of aggression after a brain injury may be even higher, because of a number of other factors. Veterans may be more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, which is also linked to aggression. Additionally, veterans are also likely to have the tools necessary to carry out attacks. For instance, they may have access to guns, and may have knowledge of how to use these weapons. Veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder are also at a higher risk of substance abuse and alcohol abuse, which are also predictors of violent behavior.

New research seems to indicate that veterans, who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health disorders, may be at a high risk of addiction to opioid painkillers.

According to the study, veterans who need painkillers, and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems, are much more likely to be prescribed strong opioid painkillers. Some of these painkillers including Vicodin and OxyContin have already been linked to many cases of abuse and addiction. Persons who have been advised strong painkillers like these can get addicted to the pills, with a real potential for overdose. OxyContin, in particular, has been linked to many fatal overdoses.

When veterans, who suffer from mental health problems, including symptoms of post- traumatic stress disorder, are prescribed strong painkillers, the risk of addictions and overdoses is even higher.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of California San Francisco and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The researchers analyzed data involving 141,000 veterans. All the veterans had been treated for pain-related issues at Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers between 2005 and 2010. Some of these veterans had also been diagnosed with a mental health problem.

Close to 16,000 patients were placed on a program of opioid painkillers that required them to take the painkillers 3 times a week. The researchers found that less than 7% of veterans without post traumatic disorder or other mental-health disorders were prescribed opioid painkillers. However, close to 12% of veterans who suffered from depression or anxiety were given the opioid painkillers. People suffering from PTSD had the highest rates of painkiller prescriptions, at about 18%.

The study seems to indicate to California veteran’s benefits lawyers a sense of recklessness while treating veterans with pain issues. Currently, the system doesn't take into consideration individual concerns, and a veteran’s likelihood of becoming addicted to painkillers, before these potent drugs are prescribed.

New data from the Pentagon shows that more veterans suffered amputations of limbs in 2011, then any other year since the September 11 attacks.

The number of veterans who suffered loss of limbs increased from 196 in 2010 to 240 in 2011. This number in 2011 was also an increase from the previous high, which was 205 cases in 2007. California veterans benefits lawyers found that most of those cases occurred during the controversial Iraq surge.

The 240 veterans who suffered amputations in 2011 lost at least one limb, and the Marine Corps suffered the most casualties. A total of 129 Marines suffered amputations in the year 2011. In the Army, there were 100 amputations cases in 2011. Additionally, there were 6 sailors and 5 airmen who suffered amputations.

According to the military, the increase in amputations could be because of the current surge in Afghanistan. It could also be due to an increased use of road patrols in those areas in the country where insurgency is rife.

However, military officials say that this increase in amputations should be seen in a different light. According to them, in previous wars, soldiers suffering an amputated limb would have died from their injuries and from the blood loss. Survival rates for these persons were very low. However, with advances in medical technology, access to better medical care in the battlefield, better medical treatment as well as protective gear, more soldiers now survive serious injuries like amputations. Earlier, the alternative for these veterans would have been death.

The military believes that an increase in severe injuries merely means that more troops are surviving these serious injuries due to better protective measures than before. For instance, the military has been using groin protective gear, ensuring that injuries to this area, which were previously fatal, can now be survived.

Veterans, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, may suffer not just nightmares and flashbacks, but also an inability to drive safely. Thousands of veterans who are returning from combat duty find that it's not just their ability to integrate into their communities and families that are impacted, but also their ability to move around safely. In fact, reckless and erratic driving by veterans is being identified as a possible symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Insurer USAA has conducted a review of thousands of veterans before and after combat duty, and found that the number of accidents involving service members increased by approximately 13% after deployment. The risk of accidents was especially high during the first 6 months after an overseas tour. The data was taken from between 2007 and 2010. USAA is now collaborating with researchers, the military and other groups to devel deeper into this issue.

According to statistics, 48 soldiers died in automobile accidents last year when they were off duty. That is the highest number of fatalities involving veterans in automobile accidents in 3 years. The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs are currently investing in research into the link between deployment and an increased risk of dangerous and aggressive driving.

The Veterans Affairs Center in Albany has already implemented a program to help veterans understand how their deployment might help push the wrong buttons when they're driving. Researchers in Palo Alto, California are developing treatment programs that they believe can help treat people with PTSD who find themselves frustrated or irritable at the wheel.

California veterans benefits lawyers are familiar with the effects of active deployment on a person's driving skills. In fact, veterans from the Gulf War and the Vietnam War have been found to be more likely to die in automobile accidents than veterans who were not deployed. However, Iraq and Afghanistan vets have been exposed to more roadside bombs, and this has possibly contributed to more severe symptoms of PTSD.

This is news that should concern veterans’ groups, and California veterans benefits lawyers who know the difficult financial circumstances of veterans who find it hard to obtain their rightful benefits. According to statistics by the Bureau Of Labor Statistics, there was an increase in the unemployment rate among veterans in December 2011.

This increase was seen even as there was an overall drop in the national unemployment rate. The national unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in 3 years, but among veterans, the number increased slightly. In November, the unemployment rate was 11.1% among veterans, and that increased to 13.1% in December. Unemployment seems to affect female veterans even worse than male veterans. In December, approximately 21.6% of female veterans were unemployed.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, currently about 240,000 vets are unemployed. Unemployment payments made to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have spiked from $452 million dollars in 2008 to a staggering $940 million in 2011. What's more, California veterans benefits lawyers believe that the unemployment problem among veterans will actually increase over the next couple of years, as veterans begin to return home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of these veterans are coming home to a job market that is severely depressed, and are lacking in skills that can help them compete in a highly competitive job market.

The federal administration is aware of this dire employment situation, and has begun to implement certain programs that are meant to encourage employment opportunities for veterans. For example, the Hire a Veteran bill which was signed by the President in November would offer tax credits and other incentives to businesses that hire veterans. However, it will be a while before California veterans benefits lawyers actually see any results from those programs.

Despite the military spending millions of dollars in developing a brain injury-testing program, veterans are nowhere closer to a protective system that helps detect even minor brain injuries. According to an investigation by NPR and ProPublica, a military brain injury testing program that would test a veteran’s brain function before deployment and after deployment, has failed to help the veterans it is meant to serve.

In 2007, Congress passed a measure that required such testing for soldiers. The testing program is called the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metric, and it was developed to ensure that soldiers with a brain injury that escaped conventional diagnostic techniques could be helped in time, or so California disability benefits lawyers believed at the time. However, the investigation by NPR and ProPublica has found that the program has failed to help veterans.

In the 4 years since that measure was passed, more than 1 million veterans have taken the test which has cost taxpayers about $42 million, but increased diagnosis, follow ups and speedier treatment have lagged.

According to the investigation, the people who invented the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metric and stood to profit from it, were the same people who were involved in the decision by the military to use the testing program. No serious consideration was given to any of the other testing methods under review. Moreover, the military failed to take into consideration years of warning that there was not enough evidence that the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metric could be accurate or reliable in diagnosing a traumatic brain injury.

The test has barely been administered as recommended, and the results of the testing have not been used to enhance brain injury diagnosis for veterans. In fact, the ProPublica investigators allege that that the test was an unproven tool that was embraced in a hurry by the Department of Defense at great taxpayer cost, but little benefit to veterans.

The U.S. military acknowledges that the test is not an optimal test, and says that it is in the process of trying to improve on the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metric.

A new study finds that guilt is a major factor in the development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among veterans in combat.

The research involved more than 2,600 active-duty Marines, who were studied before and after their combat tours. The preliminary findings come from a study of 208 active-duty Marines in Afghanistan. The researchers found that 7% of these Marines were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder 3 months after they came home, and the condition was linked to internal conflict rather than the fear of being killed, or the sight of dead bodies.

The study plays with the idea of ‘moral injury’ as a cause of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. According to the researchers, service members who lived through an attack which killed other service members, or witnessed an attack that results in the unintentional death of civilians, women or children may suffer from survivor's guilt. These feelings of guilt may ultimately manifest themselves as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The American Psychiatric Association has been considering new criteria for the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the new criteria could possibly include guilt and shame. However, there has been limited research into the role of moral injury in the development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in veterans. Typically, the American Psychiatric Association has linked Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to violence during combat, fear of being killed, and loss of friends in combat.

Psychological issues have become an epidemic among veterans, with approximately 50% of all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans diagnosed with mental health issues. The most prominent among the mental health issues that California veterans benefits lawyers have found, is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which currently affects about 200,000 veterans. According to the researchers, post traumatic stress disorder which is linked to a moral injury, is typically more severe than PTSD that results from being part of a near-death experience. Persons who experience a moral injury may be more likely to commit suicide, or exhibit violent tendencies towards family members.

In what is sure to be a major disappointment to veterans groups and California veterans’ benefits lawyers, a federal appeals court has gone back on an earlier ruling calling for a major improvement to mental health services for veterans returning from combat. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered a rehearing of the case, and has withdrawn an earlier opinion that called for an overhaul of these services.

in May, the three-judge panel had sharply criticized the Department of Veterans Affairs for its failure to provide for injured veterans. The case was related to a lawsuit filed by two nonprofit organizations, Veterans United for Truth Inc. and Veterans for Common Sense. The lawsuit filed in 2007 alleged that the Department of Veterans Affairs has been shamefully negligent in its duty to take care of wounded veterans.

A district court in California dismissed those claims, ruling that the court lacked the legal authority to meddle in the agency's matters. However, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's order, citing the Department of Veterans Affairs’ incompetence and egregious problems in addressing the mental health concerns of veterans. According to the ruling, the failure by the Department of Veterans Affairs to address these issues violated the Constitution by infringing on veterans’ rights.

That ruling had been welcomed by California veterans benefits lawyers, because it finally looked like the legal system was going to step in to protect veterans’ rights to proper mental care services after their return from combat. However, this week, the Ninth Circuit reconsidered its decision. The court reversed its position, calling for a rehearing of the case. The new hearing has been scheduled for December 12.