Help can be hard to accept:MANY IN MILITARY SEE STIGMA AGAINST MENTAL HEALTH CARE

Help can be hard to accept: MANY IN MILITARY SEE STIGMA AGAINST MENTAL HEALTH CARE

By Dana Hull
Mercury News
Article Launched: 05/08/2008 01:33:22 AM PDT


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June Moss gets a checkup at the Palo Alto VA Hospital.... (Richard Koci Hernandez / Mercury News)«1234»Related Stories
May 8:
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War veterans who lost arms and legs don't think twice about getting fit for prosthetics. But when it comes to psychological injuries, many pause.

"You don't want to be seen as the weakest link," said Romeo Horvath, an Iraq war veteran who waited until he was home in Sunnyvale to seek counseling. "If you go to see the psychologist, then everyone in the unit says, 'You went to see the wizard.' "

Six years into the Iraq war, the mental health needs of America's military are now in the spotlight.

A barrage of data and recent studies show how critical the situation is: An average of 18 veterans commit suicide every day, but 61 percent of veterans think that seeking help will damage their careers.

"Everyone is asking: Is it going to have an impact?" Dick Talbott said of the new focus on mental health. He oversees 32 outpatient vet centers in California, Oregon, Hawaii and Guam. "It's encouraging. But if it will really change the culture remains to be seen."

Last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged troops to get psychiatric counseling for wartime mental health problems and called PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, one of the "unseen wounds" of war.

His comments underscore the military's growing effort to raise awareness of mental health issues, including a new suicide hotline. Many clinicians say that someone as high ranking as Gates speaking out is an enormous step toward destigmatizing mental illness.



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The talk comes with money: On Friday, the Veterans Affairs Department announced an additional $2 million for the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, which includes a facility in Menlo Park.
But it remains to be seen whether the attention will change a stigma that is as deeply rooted in military culture as boot camp.

Until Gates announced a policy change last week, a PTSD diagnosis could cost soldiers their security clearance, curtailing their careers. The problem is compounded since mental health issues remain taboo in many families, particularly ethnic minorities who are disproportionately represented in the military.

"There are layers of reluctance," said Robert Jenkins, the first African-American psychologist hired by the VA in Palo Alto. "People are worried about being labeled by the military. And in many cultures, particularly among African-Americans, there's concern from family members that if you seek counseling you'll be airing dirty laundry."

Horvath, who worked as a military policeman at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghurayb prison, knows the issues well. His own PTSD diagnosis inspired him to work at the VA as a patient advocate. He says that the stigma of mental illness runs deep in many Asian communities.

"My family is Korean and my girlfriend is Vietnamese," Horvath said. "They say things like, 'You have your family. Don't go to the government.' "

Some families also mistakenly believe that going to the VA means rotating back to combat duty.

Serious PTSD research began in the 1980s, when a landmark survey found that more than 30 percent of Vietnam veterans suffered from symptoms of PTSD. Efforts to reach out to veterans have grown dramatically as 1.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans return home and aging Vietnam veterans seek care in greater numbers.

To handle the increase, the VA Palo Alto Health Care System is hiring veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq to connect with the new generation of returning soldiers.

Still, some say that seeking psychological help has serious consequences. June Moss feels it cost her her Army career.

In Iraq, Moss drove a Humvee, fired weapons and stood guard at checkpoints. When she rotated home, she struggled with anxiety and insomnia and found it hard to connect with her two children. After finally seeking help from an Army psychologist, she was diagnosed with PTSD.

Then everything changed. Her duties were curtailed, and fellow soldiers began to shun her. Opportunities to rise through the ranks dwindled, and the Army medically discharged Moss in 2005.

"The attitude was: You're bonkers. You can't be around weapons," said Moss, 37, who grew up in East Palo Alto. "If you go get help to better yourself mentally, they get rid of you because they say you are a psychological liability."

A PTSD diagnosis does not automatically result in a medical discharge, an Army spokesman said. He could not comment on Moss' case, citing confidentiality.

Moss, who is black, found similar resistance in her family. When she told her father that she was getting counseling, he was angry. Don't go to a doctor, he said. Just pray.

"The attitude is, if you pray about it, the Lord will make a way for you," Moss said. "That's really strong in our community."

Moss does both. Every week, she talks with her VA case manager in Menlo Park. She takes anxiety medication. And she prays.

"When I talk to veterans, I tell them that I'm getting help," said Moss, who now works as an assistant of chaplain services at the VA. "I want people to know that it's not shameful. I don't want to be like the Vietnam veterans, who have been holding it in for 30 years. You can't hold it in."




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Contact Dana Hull at dhull@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-2706.

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I am one of the Nam era vets I held it in until October 2002, my coping mechanisms failed and there was no one else to blame the problems on any longer except myself. Alcohol, drugs and work could not hide the demons of PTSD even after three decades, my 5th wife forced me to seek mental health help at the VA, it was either that or she was leaving, I don't know who was more shocked at the diagnosis of PTSD me or the VA shrink, he didn't believe the story of the classified chemical weapons experiments or the drugs and the LSD at Edgewood Arsenal, he could not believe the US Army or the federal government allowed human experimentation like that until 1975. That was just one of the issues I have issues with, combat situations, ambushes, near death experiences etc I had 15 years of Army service 10 years active and 5 years NG, Vietnam to Desert Storm. I had spent my career telling other soldiers to suck it up, "drive on" "if you go to a shrink they will yank your security clearance" the normal language for ever used in the military, seeing a shrink was a career ending experience for an Officer or an NCO, we were of the opinion the military only had them for our dependents and psycho's, if the chain of command found out you wanted to see one for "counseling" you were toast.

I don't care what they say the stigma will always be there. The change has to come from the top down and punish the officers and NCOs who harass or punish soldiers for seeking mental health treatment, until that happens, nothing will ever change.

This nation will be dealing with new diagnosed cases of PTSD in 2038 from the Iraq War.

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