1 in 4 newly discharged doctors have PTSD, research says

More than 60% of New York State veterans who recently left the military suffered a physical or mental disability while serving, and 1 in 4 had depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, a nationwide survey found.

The report also found that rates of suicidal thoughts were twice as high among the veterans surveyed than the general population.

Of the 1,122 veterans discharged or separated from the military between January 2018 and January 2023, surveyed in a nationwide report, 25% also said they had dealt with food insecurity in the past year – almost double the national average – despite their high levels of employment and quality. education.

The report was created by the nonprofit New York Health Foundation and is administered by RAND, a nonpartisan research agency. Of those interviewed, 62% were under 45 years of age; about 15% were women, and about 40% were non-white.

Increased willingness to seek help

David Sandman, executive director and president of the New York Health Foundation, said that although mental health trends among veterans are troubling, there is a silver lining.

“There’s a lot more awareness than these situations before,” Sandman said. “And there’s … there’s been a reduction in the stigma associated with accessing mental health services, which is still a barrier, especially in the military community. There’s more willingness to seek help.”

The study, which recommended expanding access to mental health services and suicide prevention programs, shows New York service members struggle with a variety of illnesses after returning to civilian life.

For example, about 63% of current veterans reported a service-connected mental or physical disability compared to 30% during a 2010 RAND report on New York veterans.

Long Island is home to the state’s largest proportion of veterans, with about 64,000 current or former veterans in Suffolk and about 45,000 in Nassau, according to a 2021 report from the New York Health Foundation .

Robert Novotny, 37, of Mastic Beach, served in the Marines from 2005 to 2013, including tours in Japan and a combat mission in Iraq.

While in uniform, he was shot in his left hand, broke his right arm, broke his left hip and now deals with insomnia, or sleep cycles, which he say they are caused by “carelessness” in the military service. All illnesses are classified by the VA as service-connected disabilities.

“If I get two solid hours in a meeting, I’m a mint,” said Novotny, who now works in private wealth management. But usually every hour or hour and a half I wake up for at least 10 minutes.

Mental health needs ‘higher than ever’

The survey asked veterans about their mental and physical health needs, access to care, and other factors that may affect their health, including food insecurity.

Overall, 25% of the vets surveyed said they probably had depression, 26% were dealing with possible PTSD, and 9% had thoughts. of suicides last year, the report shows. In a 2010 RAND report, 1 in 6 people said they had depression or PTSD. Research statistics specifically for Long Island veterinarians were not available.

Nationwide, nearly 7,000 veterans died by suicide in 2021, including nearly 140 in New York, according to a 2023 report from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Meanwhile, nearly 30% of veterans surveyed said they had at least one binge in the past 30 days, and 10% report frequent binge drinking.

Dr. Amy Williams, chief clinical officer of the Queens-based Headstrong Project, a nonprofit mental health organization that provides PTSD treatment to active and former service members, said the organization served about 250 customers last year – almost six times more than ten years before. .

“Please [for mental health services] “It’s higher than it’s ever been,” Williams said, adding that many doctors with depression and PTSD also deal with substance abuse and are at risk. “And the demand for these services is higher than ever.”

But Novotny sees the increase in self-diagnosis of depression and PTSD as a positive step.

“It’s great for medical professionals to be open, honest and helpful,” she said. “I remember in 2010 I was getting treatment and people called me weak. But, well, I’m alive.”

Struggling because of lack of food

Overall, about 20% of veterans interviewed in the survey said their health was “fair” or “poor,” while 15% said they had health needs unmet physical health needs, and 21% say they have unmet mental health care needs.

Patrick Donohue, of Islip, spent six months with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division near a burn hole in Afghanistan, breathing in plastic and human and medical waste that he says caused a non-cancerous brain tumor.

Donohue, now a military attorney and spokesperson for Project9Line, which helps veterans transition back into civilian life, said the election results were not surprising, but the solution was may be unusual.

Many doctors, he said, push conventional forms of medication for mental health problems that often create new symptoms and side effects.

“There needs to be a holistic approach to eating well, getting more exercise, yoga and meditation,” Donohue said. “Even martial arts and pickleball… These are things that will give veterans long-term health. These are very helpful in the short term and in the long term.”

The issues go beyond physical and mental health.

Nearly 1 in 4 respondents to their survey said they worried about not having enough money for food in the past year, RAND found.

Island Harvest, a Melville-based food bank, launched Operation: HOPE – a program to help veterans and families of active duty personnel deployed overseas in need of food assistance – in 2012.

The group provides assistance to about 1,000 veterans per month, which is a higher level than before the epidemic due to greater access to that community, according to Randi Shubin Dresner, president and chief executive officer of the organization non-profit.

He said: “We have elite fighters who live on Long Island. “It costs a lot of money to live here and buy food. We have a story of a veteran we helped who ate a can of corn every day because that was all he could afford… We have many stories. of veterans here who are struggling. .”