American Legion Releases Report on TBI and PTSD

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The American Legion released a report on Sept. 11 that is the culmination of a study the wartime veterans organization did on current treatments and best practices for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The report, entitled The War Within, includes findings and recommendations based on comprehensive research, conducted from January 2011 to February 2013, by an American Legion ad hoc committee chaired by William Detweiler, past national commander of the Legion.

Detweiler said the report shows that while the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) use a number of traditional medical treatments for TBI and PTSD cases, they have not done a lot of research on alternative methods. Theres no simple answer to what works as far as PTSD or TBI is concerned, but we found that the (DoD and VA) medical profession shied away from certain things which they considered to be alternative medicine.

For example, Detweiler said that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is one alternative treatment that works for some people. Its not the answer for everybody, but (DoD and VA) have shied away from putting any serious money into doing studies.

Key findings from the Legions report include:

The report recommended that:

In his testimony before a joint session of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees on Sept. 10, American Legion National Commander Daniel Dellinger said the ad hoc committee worked closely with mental health experts, physicians, DoD, VA, and veterans suffering from these conditions, and found that current PTSD and TBI screening and identification procedures are inadequate, and existing treatment programs are lacking.

The War Within report is being distributed to members of Congress, the Obama Administration, VA officials, and the American Legions membership. The report can be downloaded from the Legions website. (http://legion.org/documents/legion/pdf/american-legion-war-within.pdf)

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American Legion Releases Report on TBI and PTSD