One in five veterans to suffer from mental disorders

THEY’RE national heroes, widely respected for their courage. But life in the military is hard, and leaves at least one in five Australian veterans suffering from mental illness.

AFGHANISTAN .. Australian Army soldiers ‘Guardian Angels’ Private Jake Britten (far right) and Lance Corporal Brian Amber (right) talk with Afghan National Army soldiers at Camp Hero, during their deployment to Operation Highroad as part of the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. *** Local Caption *** There are approximately 20 Australian Defence Force personnel providing training and advisory support as mentors at Camp Hero, Kandahar. Australian troops are also deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Highroad to provide force protection and security to Australian and Coalition mentors and advisers supporting the NATO-led Resolute Support mission. The force protection elements act in a variety of ways such as close support ‘Guardian Angels’ as well as in more traditional protection roles. The risk of insider threat remains a key consideration for ADF members operating in Afghanistan. There are force protection elements located in Kandahar, Kabul and Qargha. Members of the force protection element are currently drawn from B Company, First Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, based in Townsville. There are approximately 400 Australian Defence Force personnel deployed across Afghanistan in a variety of roles as part of Operation Highroad contributing to Resolute Support. Resolute Support is focused on training, advising and assisting the Afghan National Security Forces and Afghan security institutions at the operational, institutional and ministerial levels.

AT least one in five modern-day war veterans will suffer from some form of mental illness after they leave the military.

A new US study also found that therapy such as meditation and yoga had a dramatic short-term impact on veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but the effects did not last beyond two months.

The Australian Defence Force and Department of Veterans Affairs are conducting a joint study to determine why the relatively low number of serving troops suffering from PTSD or depression translates into a much higher number of veterans reporting mental disorders.

About 26,000 Australians served in Afghanistan, which means possibly 5000 PTSD cases.

Data from American veterans who have served overseas during the past decade has revealed an alarming PTSD rate of 20 per cent.

Epidemic ... About 26,000 Australians served in Afghanistan, which may result in 5000 possible PTSD cases. Picture: Supplied

The rate among serving Australian troops is about 8.1 per cent, compared with 4.6 per cent for the civilian population.

PTSD expert Professor Ian Hickie, co-director at the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Institute, said studies of serving personnel were likely to significantly under estimate the rate of mental illness.

Appropriate services ... Professor Ian Hickie says Australia will need more resources to cope with ill soldiers. Picture: Bob Finlayson

“As our soldiers move from active duty back to civilian life, it is likely that the reported rates will increase significantly,” he said.

“It is likely that we will need to provide appropriate psychological services to at least one-in-five of our veterans.”

Professor Hickie said it was vital for veterans to seek help and to try a range of treatments for mental disorders including anxiety and depression.

“We must provide the best range of care for our veterans at the earliest opportunity and without disputing issues such as entitlements,” he said.

“Goodwill is widespread but implementation is harder to achieve.”

Open to help ... Ex-soldiers must seeks help for PTSD at the earliest opportunity to get the best help. Picture: Supplied

The US study of mindfulness (meditation) versus traditional trauma focused treatments found a dramatic short-term improvement.

At the end of treatment, reduction in clinically-significant PTSD symptom severity was greater in the mindfulness group at 4 per cent, compared with a 28 per cent drop using traditional treatment.

“However, at two month follow-up, this group was no more likely to have lost the PTSD diagnosis,” the study said.

It said more work was required to establish the true impact of the mindfulness approach.

The study said that little attention had been paid to “quality of life” as a therapeutic goal for patients with PTSD.

“A potentially advantageous aspect of mindfulness-based interventions is that they may provide benefit for domains of health beyond PTSD symptoms,” it said.