By: Martha Linden, PA, The Independent
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Nearly 4,000 new cases of mental health disorder were diagnosed last year among armed services personnel, according to figures published today.
Mental health statistics released by the Ministry of Defence showed 3,917 new cases of armed services personnel assessed to have a mental disorder in 2007 by the MoD’s department of community mental health.
A breakdown of the statistics showed that, in line with the first nine months of last year, there were no statistically significant differences in the rates of overall mental disorder between those who had deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and those who had not deployed during the last quarter of 2007.
But the figures showed a significantly higher rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among those who had deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan compared with those who had not deployed to these countries.
