VETERAN SERVICE CONTACTS / LINKS

Homeless Veterans Hotline: (877) 4AIDVET (424-3838)

Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline: (800) 273-TALK (8255)

• California Association of Veteran Service Agencies
• California Department of Veterans Affairs
• Coalition for Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• DOD Federal Globe
• HUD Veteran Resource Center
• Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Association
• Mental Health Self-Assessment Program
• My HealtheVet
• National Alliance for Mental Health
• National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
• National Veterans Foundation
• National Veterans Legal Services Program
• Network of Care for Veterans & Service Members
• Operation Homefront
• PTSD Blog
• Public Counsel
• Seeds of Hope Books
• The Soldiers Project
• Swords to Plowshares  
• Swords to Plowshares' Transition Manual   
• VA National Center for PTSD   
• Vet Centers
• Veterans and Families Foundation
• Veterans For Peace
• Veterans Today
• Vietnam Veterans of America
• Warrior Gateway
• Wounded Warrior Diaries
• Wounded Warrior Project

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Statistics for OEF / OEF

AFGHANISTAN

• A recent study showed that 18 percent of 45,880 veterans were diagnosed with psychological disorders, including 183 with PTSD.
  

• According to a 2005 VA study of 168,528 Iraqi veterans, 20 percent were diagnosed with psychological disorders, including 1,641 with PTSD.
• In an earlier VA study this year, almost 12,500 of nearly 245,000 veterans visited VA counseling centers for readjustment problems and symptoms of PTSD.
• The Marines and Army were nearly four times more likely to report PTSD than Navy or Air Force because of their greater exposure to combat situations.
• Enlisted men were twice as likely as officers to report PTSD.
• 8 percent to 10 percent of active-duty women and retired military women who served in Iraq suffer from PTSD.
• Studies show that U.S. women serving in Iraq suffer from more pronounced and debilitating forms of PTSD than their male counterparts.
• A Defense Department study of combat troops returning from Iraq found 1 in 6 soldiers and Marines acknowledged symptoms of severe depression and PTSD, and 6 in 10 of these same veterans were unlikely to seek help out of fear their commanders and fellow troops would treat them differently.
• A 2003 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine said about 1 in 6 soldiers returning from Iraq suffered from PTSD. Interviews with those at risk showed that only 23 percent to 40 percent sought professional help, most typically because they feared it would hurt their military careers.

Source: Department of Veterans Affairs; New England Journal of Medicine, Defense Department, National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Journal of Traumatic Stress.

Information compiled by Jack Epstein and Johnny Miller of the San Francisco Chronicle.