US Soldiers on Prozac for Depression?

America’s Medicated Army 

by Mark Thompson
Time, June 16, 2008

“While the headline-grabbing weapons in [the] war have been high-tech wonders, like unmanned drones that drop Hellfire missiles on the enemy below, troops like [Sergeant Christopher LeJeune] are going into battle with a different kind of weapon, one so stealthy that few Americans even know of its deployment.

For the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The medicines are intended not only to help troops keep their cool but also to enable the already strapped Army to preserve its most precious resource: soldiers on the front lines. Data contained in the Army’s fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report indicate that, according to an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope.

Escalating violence in Afghanistan and the more isolated mission have driven troops to rely more on medication there than in Iraq, military officials say…The increase in the use of medication among U.S. troops suggests the heavy mental and psychological price being paid by soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pentagon surveys show that while all soldiers deployed to a war zone will feel stressed, 70% will manage to bounce back to normalcy. But about 20% will suffer from what the military calls ‘temporary stress injuries,’ and 10% will be afflicted with ‘stress illnesses’…The mental trauma has become so common that the Pentagon may expand the list of ‘qualifying wounds’ for a Purple Heart — historically limited to those physically injured on the battlefield — to include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”….read rest of stroy here