Soaring Numbers of Veterans Seeking Help for Mental Health Conditions

There are an extraordinary number of veterans who have returned from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq requiring health care on some level. The number of veterans with disabilities has reached beyond 700,000 and of those at least 50% have sought care for a condition relating to their mental health, according to an article in Time Magazine.

Those numbers came from a new report, which was put together by a veteran's advocacy organization called Veterans for Common Sense. They were able to collect their information directly from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense through Freedom of Information Act requests.

About 2.2 million soldiers have been deployed in combat roles to Afghanistan and Iraq. Out of all those combat soldiers, 42% have deployed at least twice. Over 6,000 Americans have been killed to date, and almost 46,000 have been wounded while in action.

There are thousands of soldiers that have been injured, however, and have not been reported as injuries. There have been almost 57,000 soldiers medically evacuated from Afghanistan and Iraq due to either injuries or accidents, which means there have been almost 110,000 casualties.

According to the Pentagon, those 57,000 were not evacuated due to any medical problem associated with their service, a statement most evacuated soldiers would probably not agree with.

There are almost 712,000 soldiers seeking VA treatment. About 368,000 are seeking VA treatment for various mental health conditions.

If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today - 1-888-234-5758.