Thousands of veterans return with mental illness

Study: Thousands of veterans return with mental illness
Story Highlights
• Study examines vets who received VA care beween 2001-2005
• Study says youngest Iraq, Afghanistan veterans have most issues
• Data from 103,788 veterans analyzed in study
• Post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosed in 13 percent of those studied



SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Nearly a third of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who received care from Veterans Affairs between 2001 and 2005 were diagnosed with mental health or psychosocial ills, a study published Monday has concluded.
The study was published in the March 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine and carried out by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
They looked at data from 103,788 veterans; about 13 percent of them women, 54 percent under age 30, nearly a third minorities and nearly half veterans of the National Guard or Reserves.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer talks with Max Cleland about a new study concerning troops' mental wellness (March 12)
Watch Cleland talk about the mental consequences of war

Watch how the wars are blamed for an "epidemic" of mental disorders