Mental Health Awareness Month

Floor Speech

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The Mental Health America organization began this campaign in 1949 in an effort to raise awareness of mental health conditions and mental wellness. Even after more than 60 years, however, we are still fighting against the stigma of mental illness and for greater access to mental health services for all Americans.

I would like to call particular attention to mental health issues affecting our Active-Duty service men and women, our veterans, and the impact of these issues on thousands of military families.

The protracted military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have made mental health disorders some of the ``signature'' wounds our military members experience upon returning from these conflicts. A comprehensive study by RAND found that approximately 18.5 percent of those returning from deployment reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, or depression. And up to 30 percent of troops returning home from combat develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months. Unfortunately, due to the stigma associated with seeking help and the fear of risking their careers, our service men and women often do not seek the care they desperately need and are entitled to receive.

In fact, according to a recent Department of Defense, DoD, report, mental health disorders are the leading cause of disability among U.S. military members. Recent studies illustrate that out of the 1.4 million Active-Duty servicemembers, mental health disorders are the leading cause of hospitalization among men and the second leading cause for women, only after pregnancy-related conditions.

The five most common mental disorders our military members face are post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, major depression, bipolar disorder, alcohol dependence, and substance dependence. These disorders are likely to be chronic in nature or long-lasting in duration.

Since mental health issues often aren't immediately addressed on Active Duty, we see even higher numbers of mental illness diagnoses among our veterans. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, VA, the number of veterans receiving specialized mental health treatment from the VA has risen each year, from 927,052 in fiscal year 2006 to more than 1.3 million in fiscal year 2012.

One major reason for this increase is the VA's proactive screening of all veterans to identify those who may have symptoms of depression, PTSD, or problem use of alcohol or drugs. As we anticipate a growing number of incoming veterans with this need for care, increasing availability of qualified mental health professionals is absolutely imperative.

I commend VA Secretary Shinseki's recent decision to hire an additional 1,600 mental health staff at the VA. We know our veterans need these services and we must do everything we can to provide them with the care they need.

The invisible wounds of war are not new--they were called ``shell shock'' or ``combat fatigue'' after World War I and World War II, or ``post-Vietnam syndrome'' after Vietnam. But there are unique features stemming from our prolonged engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

First, our troops have experienced more frequent deployments of longer duration while having shorter ``dwell time,'' creating a more stressful environment.

Second, we have the highest rate of survivability in history for serious injuries such as amputations, severe burns, and spinal cord damage, leading to greater need for mental health care.

Third, the prevalence of traumatic brain injury, TBI, from improvised explosive devices, IEDs, and other blasts have increased the number of combat veterans with mild to severe diagnoses, which are linked to other psychological comorbidities.

It took the DoD and the VA too long, unfortunately, to realize that their medical care system must provide the same level of expertise, resources, and dedication to address the psychological wounds of war as they do for physical ones.

Although the DoD and the VA have made progress in the past 5 years, there is still a great gap between the mental health needs of our military members and their access to quality care.

This is an epidemic that needs to be resolved. Recent reports indicate that nearly 22 veterans commit suicide every day. In 2012, more than 349 Active-Duty service men and women across the four branches took their own lives. That is an average of 1 every 25 hours, the highest suicide rate ever in the DoD.

It is not just about resources. In fact, having an adequate number of mental health professionals is just one component of ensuring access to care.

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta testified in a hearing the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense held last year that he was unsatisfied with the Pentagon's current approach to combating military suicides and admitted that the DoD needs to review its procedures for handling mental health cases. Secretary Panetta said that there are still huge gaps in the way a mental health diagnosis is determined. Furthermore, Secretary Panetta acknowledged that the greatest obstacle to service men and women receiving necessary mental health treatment is the stigma that continues to be associated with seeking help for psychological injuries.

Throughout Maryland, I hear from service men and women who believe that seeking mental health services will hurt their military careers. We must overcome these real and perceived barriers to care by changing the policies that govern how we provide mental health care to our military members. Those who are hurting in silence will seek treatment only when they can truly speak freely and off the record. As more and more of these individuals go untreated, we will continue to see a rise in suicides and other tragic incidents among our military members and veterans.

Even as we wind down our combat operations in Afghanistan over the next year, I fear that we will continue to see an increasing number of our military members and veterans needing mental health care in the near future.

Yet the DoD now is facing looming furloughs and unnecessary funding cuts, which could force the DoD to lose many of the highly valued mental health and behavioral professionals who were hired to help treat soaring rates of PTSD. Recently, Dr. Jonathan Woodson, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, stated his concerns over the DoD's long-term capability to provide mental health care to the force, to counter the effects of PTSD. More than one-half of the mental health specialists serving the military are civilians, and they have options to seek employment elsewhere. I worry about sustaining this valuable workforce under constant threat from sequesters.

Mr. President, we need to ensure that we have the personnel, resources, and policies in place to guarantee access to quality mental health care for our men and women in uniform, our veterans, and their families. Active-Duty service men and women especially need access to such care without fear of being stigmatized of suffering career-damaging consequences. Providing such care isn't just a good idea to maintain the well-being and readiness of our troops; it is our solemn moral obligation to those who have sacrificed so much for our great Nation. It is important for us to remember that--especially during Mental Health Awareness Month and as we approach Memorial Day.

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