Report: Onset of PTSD may take months or years for many combat vets

Above: A soldier with the 69th Armor Regiment pulls security during a patrol in the Rusafa district of Baghdad in August.

Veterans groups say a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry shows that the U.S. military is underestimating the extent of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder problem for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The comprehensive review of studies of PTSD, published this week, found that in many cases combat veterans did not manifest the symptoms for years.

"The military studies consistently showed high rates of delayed-onset PTSD," the report said.

"It's pretty common knowledge that its effects often do not appear for months or longer. But this is groundbreaking for Vietnam veterans and it means we should do something for newer veterans and not just let it lay there," said Steve Robinson, a Gulf War veteran and director of veterans affairs for Veterans for America.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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