The growing national debate over the Iraq war has changed the nature of the discussion over PTSD, some participants said. "It has become a pro-war-versus-antiwar issue," said one VA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because politics is not supposed to enter the debate. "If we show that PTSD is prevalent and severe, that becomes one more little reason we should stop waging war. If, on the other hand, PTSD rates are low . . . that is convenient for the Bush administration."
(emphasis mine)
And (surprise, surprise) our friends at the American Enterprise Institute have also chimed in:
Psychiatrist Sally Satel, who is affiliated with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said an underground network advises veterans where to go for the best chance of being declared disabled. The institute organized a recent meeting to discuss PTSD among veterans.
According to the article, many other experts dispute the idea that there is widespread fraud or misdiagnosis in the case of PTSD, and Terence M. Keane, a well-known PTSD researcher, pointed out that according to a study on the problem, only a quarter of the vets with combat-related PTSD ever use VA medical care for it.
Make no mistake about it. This is a shameful RW attempt to try to deny help to our vets:
Larry Scott, who runs the clearinghouse
http://www.vawatchdog.org/ , said conservative groups are trying to cut VA disability programs by unfairly comparing them to welfare.
"What they are trying to do is figure out a way not to diagnose vets with PTSD," said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a veterans advocacy group. "It's like telling a patient with cancer, 'if we tell you, you don't have cancer, then you won't suffer from cancer.' "
These guys served our country. As an American, I am ashamed of the sorts of people who would turn their backs on them, either directly, or covertly, as this attempt is trying to do.
And here is some more on Sally Satel, M.D. (a psychiatrist), member of AEI, who also sits on the President's Commission on Mental Health:
Shrink Rapper
Sally Satel ’84 MD says America's obsession with feelings is creating a nation of wimps. Her critics say she's a right-wing zealot.
By Sharon Tregaskis
Sally Satel pulls no punches. In the last year, the conservative pundit and psychiatrist has criticized the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the juvenile death penalty, questioned the World Health Organization’s HIV policy, and argued against grief counseling for tsunami survivors in southern Asia. Her op-ed columns—bearing such provocative headlines as “I Am a Racially Profiling Doctor” and “Drugs: A Decision, Not a Disease”—appear in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/storydetail.cfm?ID=2744