HUFFINGTON
09.01-08.13
ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES
INVISIBLE CASUALTIES
a pretty good job,” Kemp said in
an interview. “What happens to
people we don’t provide care to,
we are trying to figure it out,”
she said, adding that “they are at
higher risk.”
Within the military as well, long
waits for mental health care are
legendary. An Army task force on
suicide prevention in 2010 warned
of a shortage of therapists to meet
the growing demand for behavioral
health care. “Although there has
been some expansion in the number of behavioral health providers
in all of the Services, timely access
to quality behavioral health care for
ServiceMembers continues to be a
challenge,” the report said.
And despite efforts to erase the
stigma of seeking mental health
care, many say the military culture
is resistant to change. Soldiers
wounded physically or psychologically tend to be cut from the herd.
“If a soldier has a mental health
issue and fellow soldiers learn
about it, then confidence is broken
and military careers unquestionably are harmed,” said Dan Williams, an Iraq war veteran who
said his unit ridiculed him when
he sought help for what was even-
“[L]ack of
access to VA
mental health
care services
remains
a deathly
serious
problem
for the
department,”
according
to House
Veterans’
Affairs
Committee
Chairman
Jeff Miller.