Veterans Day 2013: Honoring Our Vets with Better Access to Mental Health Care

This Veterans Day, we honor the sacrifices made by our veterans, fighting for freedom and liberty not only for Americans, but for people everywhere. It’s not just the veterans themselves who face mental health issues — such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or crippling anxiety — but their families too. Families who have to cope not only with the great distances and not knowing if their soldier-husband or soldier-wife will ever return, but also with the possibly of having that person return broken. Lost. Something less-than. And while the Veterans Administration has made great strides in providing better care for veterans in the past few years, it still has a long ways to go. Today, we are still not doing enough to recognize and take care of veterans’ mental health needs. This isn’t some feel good mantra. This is a very real need that the military continues to have problems meeting. Back in 2009, the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare conducted a survey of veterans and found that problems remain: Access to Care: Almost two-thirds of respondents said veterans and their families experience long delays to get initial appointments for people in crisis and excessive waits in between appointments. While this has improved somewhat in recent years, wait times still vary dramatically from VA center to VA center. The VA continues to push its expansion of mental health care and coverage for vets, hiring new mental health professionals a...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Tags: General Mental Health and Wellness Military Policy and Advocacy Treatment access to care Depression Health Care Mental Disorder Military Base Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Psychological Trauma Psychology PTSD va Veterans Ve Source Type: blogs