New guidelines allow troops with PTSD to redeploy

Stars & Stripes

Troops with bipolar and psychotic disorders cannot deploy into Iraq or Afghanistan but those recovering from traumatic stress disorders still can, under new defense guidelines released this week.

Defense health officials said the new guidance is designed to clarify existing policy, not to replace any current practices dealing with deploying service members with mental health issues.

Earlier this month, Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Kit Bond, R-Mo., sent a letter to Winkenwerder blasting reports that soldiers stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., were discouraged from seeking treatment for PTSD.

The senators asked the Pentagon to investigate whether mental health officials were denied access to soldiers or pressured into approving their deployment. They also noted the stigma still associated with PTSD “must be changed if we hope to ensure the mental health of our country’s brave servicemembers.”

Defense officials are still investigating the Fort Carson case.
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At what cost comes victory? Just asking...

http://www.shockedandawful.com/

http://www.epluribusmedia.org/features/20060206PTSD_pt3.htmlBlaming the Veteran: The Politics of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

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