Charles W. Hoge

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the mental health of four U.S. combat infantry units (three Army units and one Marine Corps unit) using an anonymous survey that was administered to the subjects either before their deployment to Iraq (n=2530) or three to four months after their return from combat duty in Iraq or Afghanistan (n =3671).

TL;DR: Mildtraumatic brain injury occurring among soldiers deployed in Iraq is strongly associated with PTSD and physical health problems 3 to 4 months after the soldiers return home, and after adjustment for PTSD and depression, mild traumatic brain injury was no longer significantly associated with these physical health outcomes or symptoms, except for headache.

TL;DR: Combat duty in Iraq was associated with high utilization of mental health services and attrition from military service after deployment, and the deployment mental health screening program provided another indicator of the mental health impact of deployment on a population level but had limited utility in predicting the level ofmental health services that were needed after deployment.

TL;DR: The large clinical burden recently reported among veterans presenting to Veterans Affairs facilities seems to exist within months of returning home, highlighting the need to enhance military mental health care during this period.

TL;DR: The findings indicate that among the study groups there was a significant risk of mental health problems and that the subjects reported important barriers to receiving mental health services, particularly the perception of stigma among those most in need of such care.