Paging Jim Nicholson

While the head of the VA is trying to figure out how millions of Social Security numbers were exposed to possible fraud and identity theft, he might want to consider telling his boss to forget about so-called “ethics training” for the military in light of the Haditha murders and other possible killings committed by our service people who surely must be stressed out at this point beyond any limit of endurance.

Instead, this administration should put more money into counseling for our returning veterans who often are sent back for additional tours of duty in Iraq. As this report explains:

(Larry) Scott (post-Vietnam veteran and founder of vawatchdog.org) said between 20 and 35 percent of soldiers returning from the recent wars are receiving mental health care from the VA, and about half of these veterans are in the beginning stages of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Scott said, due to under-funding, the VA in Washington isn’t hiring more staff to care for veterans with psychological issues.

“In terms of the VA [in Houston], I finished a large study about a year ago, using my depression intervention program for veterans who met both PTSD and major depression criteria,” said Lynn Rehm, a psychologist based at the University of Houston who does research on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. “We were not terribly successful. We produced some mild effects on depression, but it wasn’t very long-lasting.”

Rehm developed the Self-Management Therapy Program to help people deal with depression through positive activities and group sessions. He says, at times the weekly VA group sessions would have to wait for enough veterans to show up in order to have a meeting. Despite the need, Rehm says the meeting rooms had plenty of space for more patients to join.

According to Rehm the quality of healthcare within the VA is top-notch.

However, Scott says the problem is the difficulty of getting placed into the system and the wait times to see specialists is the problem. The problem, he says is under-funding.

I know I’ve linked to a few columns by Marie Cocco lately, but that’s because I think she’s been generating Pulitzer-worthy commentary, and she does so again here.