Charles S. Milliken, MD, Jennifer I Auchterlonie, MS, Charles WL Hoge, MD “Longitudinal Assessment of Mental Health Problems Among Active and Reserve Component Soldiers Returning from the Iraq War” https://jamanetwork-com.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/journals/jama/fullarticle/209441

Some Soldiers that returned from the Iraq War had metal health problems. In the article they study how much soldiers need health care. The objective was that they wanted to measure the mental health needs among soldiers returning from Iraq and the association of screening with mental health care utilization. They studied the soldier’s health by using Post-Deployment Health Assessment and a Post-Deployment Health Re-Assessment. The article says that they took a Population-based, longitudinal descriptive study of the initial large cohort of 88 235 US soldiers returning from Iraq who completed both a Post-Deployment Health Assessment (PDHA) and a Post-Deployment Health Re-Assessment (PDHRA) with a median of 6 months between the 2 assessments. The main outcome was that they had posttraumatic stress disorder, major depression, alcohol misuse, and other health problems. The soldiers had more cases of mental health because of this they were referred to significantly higher rates from the Post-Deployment Health Reassessment and from the Post-Deployment Health Assessment. The article says that Based on the combined screening, clinicians identified 20.3% of active and 42.4% of reserve component soldiers as requiring mental health treatment. They had concerns about the interpersonal conflict that it increased the 4-fold. The soldiers always reported the concerns of alcohol, but they were not a lot of soldiers that got referred to get alcohol treatment. The article says that Most soldiers who used mental health services had not been referred, even though the majority accessed care within 30 days following the screening. Although soldiers were much more likely to report PTSD symptoms on the PDHRA than on the PDHA, 49% to 59% of those who had PTSD symptoms identified on the PDHA improved by the time they took the PDHRA. There was no direct relationship of referral or treatment with symptom improvement. The authors conclusion was to Rescreen the soldiers for a several of months after they returned from Iraq and they identified a large cohort missed on initial screening. They reported more amounts of veterans that presented to Veteran Affairs facilities that seemed to exist within the months of coming back home that they need to enhance the military mental health care during this period. They also see an increase in relationship problems that underscore shortcomings in services for family members. The Reserve component soldiers who returned to be a civilian status were referred at higher rates on the Post-Deployment Health Reassessment, which could reflect their concerns about their ongoing health coverage. The lack of this may let soldiers with alcohol problems not want to access the treatment. My opinion is that the soldiers that come back from the Iraq war is that if they need to get treatment, they should get it easy and have no trouble at all so they could get the care that they need as fast as possible. The authors write the article good because they wrote it liked it really concerned them on what is going on and that they want to fix this problem and not let the soldiers suffer and get the care that they need. The authors credentials really show why they wrote this article on this topic. The authors writing style was good and it kept the readers interested the whole way threw and they explained it very easy. The purpose of this reading was because the authors want us to know what is happening to the soldiers on how they get their health care. The authors were credential because they gave you sources and studied the problem in the article. This is nonfiction because this happened in real life and it is a real problem that we deal with. The key quote is that Based on the combined screening, clinicians identified 20.3% of active and 42.4% of reserve component soldiers as requiring mental health treatment. They had concerns about the interpersonal conflict that it increased the 4-fold.