You may have read in Morning Reaction or elsewhere that the Army has denied the Purple Heart to those suffering from PTSD.
I'll also quote the crux of the issue from the Nytimes:
The Pentagon has decided that it will not award the Purple Heart, the hallowed medal given to those wounded or killed by enemy action, to war veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because it is not a physical wound.
The decision, made public on Tuesday, for now ends the hope of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have the condition and believed that the Purple Hearts could honor their sacrifice and help remove some of the stigma associated with the condition.
Despite the lack of a simple blood test for it, the wound of PTSD is as physical as a disfigured limb. It's not acceptable to continue stigmatizing those who've returned from their heroic service with a disfigured brain.
Apparently it's too much to do a PubMed search:
Smaller right hippocampus in war veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.
And while I'm not a scientist, it seems if you can write a book chapter on Neurobiological Alterations in PTSD that there just might be a physical basis to this disease!
Just because we do not have objective criteria to diagnose PTSD does not mean it isn't a physical disease. Were infections not physical before we had the microscope to see and diagnose them?
One could retort that I'm making the case that all mental illness is physical illness. To that I'd say: How could it be any other way? I probably can't make the argument as effectively as a neurobiologist, but any undergrad-level class in the subject could teach us that everyday activities/learning cause lasting physical change in the brain. Many illnesses of the brain are just so tied up in our concept of self that it's difficult to conceive of them in the same way we think of an infection or a cancer: an "other".
Maybe it's wishful thinking to hope that an institution like the Army to come around to these ideas, but we do see some progress. Congress just passed the mental health parity law, so why excuse this kind of insult to those brave soldiers who suffer with PTSD? They deserve better.
Sorry if this seemed unfocused and rant-ish, I just read about it and it stirred something in me. I don't know what action we can take besides speaking out against this. Any ideas?