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The federal Minister of Veterans Affairs said yesterday that past governments did not do enough to help Canadian soldiers who returned from combat with service-related mental illnesses.
"Some of these people have seen atrocities they don't even want to talk about or think about, and most of them are unimaginable for the average Canadian to picture," Greg Thompson said. The minister made his comment a day after the Department of National Defence revealed that at least 1,500 of the 20,000 men and women who have served in Afghanistan since 2001 have suffered from "operational stress injuries" - an umbrella term that includes illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and addiction.
Mr. Thompson said internal government studies revealed a dramatic increase in the number of Canadian veterans with operational stress injuries - from 3,500 five years ago to 11,000 today. This surge, which the minister attributed to the current combat situation in Afghanistan and a new desire to help suffering soldiers by detecting and treating symptoms early, led to the recent decision to build five new health clinics and increase funding for peer-support services for military families.
"The need to do something was certainly there," the minister said.
On Wednesday, the federal government also announced the location of the fourth of its five new health clinics being built as part of a $9-million plan funded by Veterans Affairs.
The new clinic, in Ottawa, will assist those members of the Canadian Forces, veterans and the RCMP suffering from operational stress injuries, and their families.
"Soldiers suffer often," Mr. Thompson said. "They suffer in silence, but so does a family, because every soldier is attached to a family unit, and when a member of that family is having difficulties, especially the mother or the father, it has an impact on the entire family."
Depending on the world region and context, about 2 to 5 per cent of a general population suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, said Jakov Shlik, clinical director of the anxiety disorders program at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, which will house the new clinic. But mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in the military, he said, can be twice as prevalent than in the general population.
Then there's the stigma in military culture of admitting that something's wrong. "There is a certain shame, a certain mentality of sucking it up ... and trying somehow to avoid this pain and suffering in some less functional way," Dr. Shlik said.
According to DND's recent statistics, about 7.5 per cent of the Canadian military in Afghanistan have suffered from mental illness. That high number, Dr. Shlik said, results from a soldier's duty, which often includes immediate threats and danger, trauma and high levels of responsibility.
"I think the hardest thing for them is when they lose somebody," Lieutenant-Colonel Theresa Girvin, a Canadian military psychiatrist at Kandahar Air Field, said in a recent interview with The Globe and Mail.
"They have a really hard time with that. Most of these guys are closer than you can imagine, they work in close quarters, they stick together, so if they lose somebody, even to an injury, it's really hard for them," she said. "It's also hard if they feel they can't do their job."
The new clinic in Ottawa will assist up to 150 patients and is expected to be operating by December. It will cost the government $162,000 to establish and will have an operating budget of about $1.86-million. Other new locations have been announced across the country in Vancouver, Edmonton and Fredericton, and the fifth site will be announced later this year. Currently, there are 10 operational stress injury clinics across Canada.
Norman Shields, psychology consultant for the National Centre for Operational Stress Injuries, said patients at the clinic will receive an interdisciplinary model of treatment that may include work with psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and addiction consultants. In some cases, a patient may also receive counselling for anger management, addiction and the transition to civilian life.
With a report from Graeme Smith in Kandahar
