Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Its Adcances Essay

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Its Advances Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects 11-20% of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, 10% of Gulf War veterans and 30% of Vietnam War veterans. With many young men and women shipping off to join the military service, the thought of being one of the 20 out of 100 coming back from the Iraq or Afghanistan wars to suffer from PTSD is a scary thought. Little is known about PTSD and all major research being done on PTSD has been completed in only the last 30 years. This excludes many of the veterans of World War 1 and World War 2, the most gruesome war in the last century. The government is steadily increasing the benefits and services available to veterans suffering from PTSD symptoms†¦show more content†¦There are also new advancements in the policy surrounding the classification of PTSD and what is needed to receive benefits. A survey conducted around post-deployment veterans from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) does a favorable job in identifying veterans with PTSD that have used VHA services for treatment or having been diagnosed with PTSD related symptoms post-deployment. The survey conducted by Brian Shiner, et al., was designed to â€Å"estimate the percentage of returning veterans with PTSD who are accessing VHA health care, based on the concept of coverage† (Shiner 814). Shiner and team based their denominator on veterans who had PTSD also having some other medical need that required them to utilize VA services prior to diagnosis while using a â€Å"diagnosis at an episode of care as the numerator† (Shiner 816). One crucial component of the Shiner study was that they excluded those who had future military service planned because those who were likely to receive treatment at a VA facility and be diagnosed with PTSD were those likely to be unfit for com bat or future military tours. According to the data compiled, Shiner and team estimated that â€Å"approximately 58% of veterans have used VA services to receive some PTSD-related treatment† (Shiner 819). The veterans, who are more likely to be treated for PTSD if they are over 25, live near a VA clinic, are diagnosed in a