What Media Bias?
Little Green Footballs
Greyhawk catches USA Today in a blatant distortion of facts, in a report with the doom-and-gloom headline “Mental Disorders Are On The Rise Among Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans.”
littlegreenfootballs.com
The Looming Doom
Greyhawk
Mudville Gazette
Iraq - been there, done that, got the tee-shirt. Now I'm home, safe and sound with my family, something for which I give thanks every day. And almost every day it seems I read something that tells me I beat the odds. Take this story, for instance, depicting a potential crisis emerging at VA healthcare facilities
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Mental Disorders Are On The Rise Among Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans
Funding cuts could overburden system
As many as one out of four veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals in the past 16 months were diagnosed with mental disorders, a number that has been steadily rising, according to a report in today's New England Journal of Medicine.
Records show that 20% of eligible ex-soldiers came to VA hospitals seeking medical treatment between October 2003 and February 2005. Overall, 26% of them were diagnosed with mental disorders, say Han Kang and Kenneth Hyams of the VA.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was most common, diagnosed in 10% of patients, followed by drug or alcohol abuse (9%). Seven percent were diagnosed with depression; 6% had anxiety disorders, such as phobias and panic. Many ex-soldiers had multiple disorders, Kang says.
But these are tentative diagnoses. Sometimes they were made by primary-care doctors and not yet confirmed by mental health specialists, he says.
usatoday.com
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Some frightening numbers, but like the oft-cited suicide statistic (raw numbers are often tossed about, but it's rarely noted that military suicides lag those of similar demographics in the civilian sector) the meaningful data would be how do these veteran's numbers compare to the population as a whole?
Drug or alcohol abuse was diagnosed in 9% of patients. All Americans:
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An estimated 17.6 million American adults (8.5 percent) meet standard diagnostic criteria for an alcohol use disorder and approximately 4.2 million (2 percent) meet criteria for a drug use disorder. Overall, about one-tenth (9.4 percent) of American adults, or 19.4 million persons, meet clinical criteria for a substance use disorder -- either an alcohol or drug use disorder or both -- according to results from the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) reported in the current Archives of General Psychiatry [Volume 61, August 2004: 807-816].
alcoholism.about.com
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In other words, the numbers are amazingly similar at 9 percent.
Seven percent were diagnosed with depression. Of the American population as a whole,
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Dr. Kessler and his colleagues found that 6.6 percent of adults in America had major depression in a year and that 16.2 percent -- or about one in six people -- were likely to have major episodes in their lifetimes. The rates did not differ based on where people lived but varied for men and women and by income level.
sfgate.com
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Another amazing similarity.
6% had anxiety disorders, such as phobias and panic. America:
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As a group, anxiety disorders afflict nearly nine percent of Americans during any six-month period. Symptoms can be so severe that patients are almost totally disabled -- too terrified to leave their homes, to enter the elevator that takes them to their offices, to attend parties or to shop for food.
healthyplace.com
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Leaving PTSD - diagnosed in 10% of patients. The National Institute of Mental Health says PTSD affects about 5.2 million adult Americans. This would be about 2.5 percent of the population based on the conversions used above. You'd expect the numbers to be higher among returning combat vets - but you'd be wrong.
Sharp readers noted that there's another reduction that must be applied to the military totals above. You see, the percentages given were percentages of patients. Repeating:
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Records show that 20% of eligible ex-soldiers came to VA hospitals seeking medical treatment between October 2003 and February 2005. Overall, 26% of them were diagnosed with mental disorders.
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So only about one quarter of one fifth of all vets were diagnosed with any disorder. Since I took math in college I'll tell you this means only 5% of all vets were diagnosed with anything. So in reality, only 2% (10% of 20%) were diagnosed with PTSD - and this was the most common diagnosis.
If all the various claims above are accurate - and I've no reason to dispute them, the numbers turn out like this:
Percentages of all Americans / OIF and OEF Vets with
PTSD: 2.4% / 2%
Drug/Alcohol abuse: 9.4% / 1.8%
Depression: 6.6% / 1.4%
Anxiety disorders (phobias and panic): 6% / 1.2%
Let's be clear about this: returning vets deserve the best treatment available. Spare no expense! But these numbers for my fellow vets are so low they're stunning, especially in an article headlined "Mental Disorders Are On The Rise Among Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans - Funding cuts could overburden system".
While that might be factual, it also appears intentionally deceptive.
Perhaps we've got another case of a missing headline?
mudvillegazette.com
iraqnow.blogspot.com
iraqnow.blogspot.com |
