[Vision2020] ‘Adjustment Disorder’ Discharges Soar

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the August 16, 2010 edition of the Army Times.

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‘Adjustment disorder’ discharges soar
Military boots PTSD troops with no benefits, vets advocates say

By Kelly Kennedy, Military Tiimes Reporter

Two years ago, Congress enacted rules to curb the military’s practice of
separating troops with combat stress for pre-existing personality
disorders — an administrative dis­charge that left those veterans with­out
medical care or other benefits.

Now, veterans advocates say, the military is using a new means to the same
end: giving stressed troops administrative discharges for “adjustment
disorders,” which also carry no benefits.

And just as before, Congress appears poised to wade in.

Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., plans to ask President Obama to have
the Pentagon pro­vide details on discharges for adjustment disorder in
recent years. In the meantime, Bond’s office has been gathering more
general data that show discharges for “other designated physical or
men­tal conditions not amounting to dis­ability” — which includes
adjust­ment disorder — have shot from 1,453 in 2006 to 3,844 in 2009.

Over the same time, personality disorder discharges dropped from a peak of
1,072 in 2006 to just 260 last year.

Shana Marchio, an aide to Bond, said the issue was brought to the
senator’s attention by Steve Robinson, a former Army Ranger who is now a
veterans advocate.

“The good news is that the Pen­tagon has moved away from per­sonality
disorders, but we feel [adjustment disorder] could be another piece of the
same prob­lem,” Marchio said.

At press time, Pentagon officials had not responded to a request for
comment about the recent rise in administrative discharges.

According to the DSM-IV, the psy­chiatric manual for mental health issues,
adjustment disorder may occur when someone has difficulty dealing with a
life event, such as a new job or a divorce — or basic training. It also
may occur after exposure to a traumatic event.

The symptoms can be the same as for post-traumatic stress disor­der:
flashbacks, nightmares, anger, sleeplessness, irritability and avoidance.

According to military and Veter­ans Affairs Department rules, if symptoms
last longer than six months, the diagnosis should change to PTSD. Under
the law enacted in 2008, that means med­ical retirement, an honorable
dis­charge, a 50 percent disability rat­ing and medical care.

That is not always happening, Robinson said. “This is a case of
inappropriate discharges. There are hundreds of cases.”

‘I could barely function’

During a deployment to Iraq with the 4th Infantry Division in 2008, former
Army Pfc. Michael Nahas, 22, said he survived two roadside bomb explosions
and one rocket-propelled grenade attack, and watched peo­ple die in
another explo­sion in Mosul.

Two months after returning to Fort Carson, Colo., he began feeling anxious
and guilty about people he believed had died needlessly. He went to the
post mental health clinic. Over three weeks, he said he had three
appointments — and a lot of medication, includ­ing 14 milligrams of Xanax
a day.

“I was drooling on myself,” he said. “I could barely function.” His mother
and veterans advo­cates verified his doses.

As enlisted supervisors in his unit chain found out he was going to
behavioral health, Nahas said some made fun of him, calling him “crazy”
and telling him to kill himself so he would not be a problem.

Veterans advocates who worked on Nahas’ case verified his information,
citing police and medical records as well as conversations with
commanders. Army Lt. Col. Steve Wollman, spokesman for the 4th Infantry
Division, declined to comment on Nahas’ specific charges.

“The allegations 
 were thor­oughly investigated,” he said. “Some 
 were
unsubstantiated and some of them were substanti­ated. Appropriate
corrective actions were made, and the inves­tigation is closed.” In
February, Nahas said he had a reaction to his medication that, coupled
with the stress he was under, led him to try to commit suicide by sticking
IV needles in his arms to bleed out.

In a photo of the aftermath pro­vided by Nahas’ family, blood fills the
bathtub and a red smiley face gazes from the tiles above.

His wife found him and called for help, and Nahas survived.

After his suicide attempt, he said he spent time in an inpatient clinic
where he was diagnosed with PTSD, then went back to his unit. But rather
than beginning the medical retirement process for PTSD, in late April his
unit gave him an administrative discharge for adjustment disorder and sent
him back to civilian life.

“I was told I had PTSD, and then I was told I didn’t,” he said.

His situation is not unique, according to people familiar with the
military disability system.

Jason Perry, a former Army judge advocate who helps troops going through
medical retirement, said he has seen dozens of such cases.

“It’s very common,” Perry said. “And it’s completely illegal.”

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This crap has been going onfor several years.  Yet we turn our backs on
the very people that need our attention.

Service members returning from the war in Afghanistan with PTSD
(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) continue to be diagnosed as having
"Adjustment Disorder" and discharged without benefits, merely because it
is cost efficient.

It's time we started giving a DAMN!

Pro patria,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."

-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.