ADVERTISEMENT
Combat Wounds
Last week's Rand Corp. report entitled "Invisible Wounds of War" is bound to gain much attention in the mental health community, with its suggestion that the psychological toll of military deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq has been more pronounced than the physical impacts resulting from combat. The report also should have health professionals and policy leaders evaluating how possible co-occurring substance use problems in some returning veterans complicate the prognosis for these men and women. The Rand report intentionally focuses on post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. Perhaps there is a need for a similar analysis of substance use issues in today's returning veterans. Has this topic entered the discussion in your community?
