BACKGROUND/AIM Frequent expression of negative affects, hostility and violent behavior in individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were recognized long ago, and have been retrospectively well documented in war veterans with PTSD who were shown to have an elevated risk for violent behavior when compared to both veterans without PTSD and other psychiatric patients. The aim ...

This study examined the population-based reach of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employment services to VHA patients with psychiatric diagnoses. Reach of services includes the percentage and characteristics of people who accessed services compared with those who did not. Using clinical administrative data, we identified patients with a psychiatric diagnosis among a random sample of all pa...

An accumulating body of empirical data suggests that current Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) psychiatric disability and rehabilitation policies for combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are problematic. In combination, recent administrative trends and data from epidemiological and clinical studies suggest theses policies are countertherapeutic and hinder research efforts to ad...

This study aimed to examine the degree to which posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects the relationship between social support and psychological distress for U.S. Afghanistan/Iraq era veterans with and without co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Veterans (N=1825) were administered self-report questionnaires and a structured diagnostic interview as part of a multi-site study of post-deploy...

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is not uncommon among Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) veterans, and many individuals within this group report lingering cognitive difficulties following their injury. For Department of Veterans Affairs clinicians, an accurate assessment of cognitive symptoms is important in providing appropriate clinical care. Although self-assessm...

We developed linguistics-driven prediction models to estimate the risk of suicide. These models were generated from unstructured clinical notes taken from a national sample of U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) medical records. We created three matched cohorts: veterans who committed suicide, veterans who used mental health services and did not commit suicide, and veterans who did not use mental...

The psychiatric problems of combat returnees are a topical and important issue given the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the media prominence afforded to post-traumatic stress disorder, the most common disorders in the UK armed forces post-deployment are depression, alcohol misuse and anxiety disorders. Although the majority of service personnel do well after leaving military...

1 The Iowa Persian Gulf Study Group. Self-reported illnesses and health status among Gulf war veterans. A population based study. JAMA 1997;277:238-45. 2 Kang H, Mahan C, Lee K, Magee C, Murphy F. Illnesses among United States veterans of the Gulf war: a population-based survey of 30,000 veterans. J Occup Environ Med 2000;42:491-501. 3 Gray G, Smith T, Kang H, Knoke J. Are Gulf veterans sufferi...

BACKGROUND The aim was to determine the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia in UK military personnel after the Gulf War 1990-1991. METHOD A two-phase cohort study was used. Three randomly selected subsamples identified from a population-based cross-sectional postal survey of over 10,000 current and ex-service UK military personnel (Gulf veterans were...