Veterans on Trial

This title explains how PTSD was handled in prior wars and why it is so prevalent among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It reveals the insidious connections between combat, PTSD, and criminal and suicidal behavior when afflicted veterans reenter society. It makes concrete recommendations as to how various groups - including veterans and their families, political and military leaders, the psychiatric community, and the courts - can alleviate the burden on the legal system and social services by addressing the PTSD challenge now. Experts anticipate that more than 350,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will return to civilian life with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Barry R. Schaller, a judge and a bioethicist, chronicles the events leading to what he predicts will be the most challenging PTSD epidemic in U.S. military history. Although combat veterans have experienced similar disorders in previous wars, Schaller explains why these two contemporaneous wars in particular are a breeding ground for the condition. "Veterans on Trial" deals with the problem of PTSD from the ground up, starting with the issues that returning veterans and their families face. When they leave the battlefield to become civilians again, many soldiers are not prepared, or are unable, to cope successfully with the challenges. Their compounded anxieties often result in serious trouble: divorce, job loss, homelessness, substance abuse, suicide, and even murder. Schaller also explains how PTSD now operates as a means of defense in the criminal court system and how it will affect the courts in the next decade. After unveiling this invisible injury among the walking wounded, Schaller offers far-reaching solutions for returning veterans and their families. He specifies what political and judicial officials, military leaders, legislators, and the mental health communities can do to meet their responsibilities to the men and women who serve our nation.