Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury--Clinical and Research Program Assessment

For far too long, the real and proven effects of PTSD and TBI largely were ignored. Even worse, service members who demonstrated symptoms of PTSD were sometimes deemed weak or mentally unstable. We know better today and are taking aggressive steps to help those who have endured traumatic stress. As a nation, we have endured an extraordinarily long period of conflict with thousands of American troops deployed in harm's way. Some, as a result of their combat experiences, suffer from post-traumatic stress or TBI. But PTSD and TBI are not limited to combat injuries. PTSD can arise from any traumatic event, such as sexual assault. For more than a decade, Congress has provided funding and legislative direction for the Department's PTSD and TBI research and clinical approaches. Since 2004, when Congress first directed the Secretary of Defense to conduct a study of the mental health services available to service members at the time, Congress has provided more than $1.5 billion in funding for PTSD- and TBI-related research. Of this, more than $800 million has gone to over 400 research projects related to psychological health of service members, including PTSD, suicide prevention, military substance abuse, resilience, prevention of violence within the military, and family-related research. We need to better understand how that money has been used; what, if any, results have come from that research; where are there potential breakthroughs, and what areas may not be as productive; what gaps may exist that should be addressed; and how should we begin to prioritize the demands that continue to grow in this area.