An article in yesterday's New York Times inspired me to write this article for PsychCentral. Here's an excerpt:
Yesterday the New York Times wrote
that the Pentagon “decided that it will not award the Purple Heart, the
hallowed medal given to those wounded or killed be enemy action, to war
veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because it is
not a physical wound.”
This is an interesting action on many
levels. My first reaction was: How typical. Go ahead and ignore all the
research and data collected by psychologists, neuro-psychologists and
psychiatrists the world over to define and develop diagnostic and
treatment protocols for this horrible condition.
On the other
hand it is impressive that the Pentagon advisory group even considered
the issue. Apparently they did leave the door open to future changes,
which sounds like Bush administration code for, “I’m out of here. Let
Obama deal with it.” But it leaves room for hope.
