U.S. is obligated to treat PTSD

This month, federal officials made a welcome, and long overdue, move toward providing easier access to medical treatment for military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nearly 2 million Americans have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, and millions more served in previous overseas conflicts, such as the first Gulf War and in Vietnam.

Yet for too long, too many have been unable to obtain medical help for PTSD. Some worried that disclosing symptoms would make them appear weak, while others were unable to clear bureaucratic hurdles. Many more were simply too discouraged to try.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of veterans who've struggled with memories of war and been denied - or chosen not to pursue - medical assistance could be affected by the recent changes.

The shift in policy lifts an onerous requirement that veterans provide documentation verifying their account of a traumatic incident that triggered stress. It also suggests that officials within the military and federal government recognize the widespread prevalence of PTSD and the myriad causes that contribute to symptoms.

As many doctors have noted, soldiers do not have to serve in a combat role to suffer post-traumatic stress. In Iraq and Afghanistan, noncombat personnel and supply convoys frequently have been targets of insurgent ambushes, roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar attacks.

Those experiences - along with working under constant fear of a firefight or bomb blast - are frequently cited as events that contribute to anxiety, nightmares, lack of focus, substance abuse and other behaviors associated with PTSD.

More than 400,000 veterans are being treated for PTSD. About 70,000 of those served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Last year, a study reported that some 300,000 veterans who've returned from those two countries may have the disorder.

Government has an obligation to provide treatment to those who have suffered such debilitating symptoms through the course of their service. Abandoning a burdensome policy that requires documentation of a traumatic experience is a reasonable step toward fulfilling that duty.