Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T14:10:26.020Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The demand for psychiatric services as a result of the Gulf war

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jacqueline M. Atkinson
Jacqueline M. Atkinson*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, University of Glasgow, 2 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RZ
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Despite the brevity of the Gulf war, there is still the strong possibility that it will leave long-term problems for psychiatric services within the NHS. The low incidence of acute psychiatric problems in the Falklands conflict does not obviate long-term problems. Surgeon-Commander O'Connell of the Royal Navy, reported informally in the newspapers (Guardian, 7 May 1990) that up to 30% of the 28,000 Falklands veterans are still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Hughes (1990), medical officer with 2nd Paratroop Regiment at Goose Green, described his realisation that he had PTSD, his subsequent treatment by the NHS and transfer to a military hospital. The Royal Navy still has a counselling service, set up in 1987, but it is clear that military services cannot deal with all the current problems, let alone those to come. The advice of the Ministry of Defence is that the initial onus to recognise a problem lies with the family and that sufferers should seek treatment through their GP.

Type
Articles
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , April 1991 , pp. 201 - 203
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1991

References

Belenky, G., Noy, S. & Solomon, Z. (1987) Battle stress, morale cohesion, combat effectiveness, heroism and psychiatric casualties: the Israeli experience. In Contemporary Studies in Combat Psychiatry (ed. Belenky, G.) Westport, Conn.: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Blank, A. S. Jr. (1982) Apocalypse terminable and interminable: operation outreach for Vietnam veterans. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 33, 913–918.Google Scholar
Brooking, J. I. (1983) Potential psychological problems of Army Medical Service personnel in combat with particular reference to the Territorial Army. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, 129, 146–153.Google Scholar
Davidson, J., Swartz, M., Stork, M., Kristinan, R. R. & Hammett, E. (1985) A diagnostic and family study of post-traumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 90–93.Google Scholar
Dewane, C. J. (1984) Post-traumatic stress disorder in medical personnel in Vietnam. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 35, 1232–1234.Google Scholar
Dudasik, S. W. (1980) Victimization in natural disaster. Disasters, 4, 127–128.Google Scholar
Fullerton, C. S. & Ursano, R. J. (1990) Behavioural and psychological responses to chemical and biological warfare. Military Medicine, 155, 54–59.Google Scholar
Goderez, B. I. (1987) The survivor syndrome. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 5, 96–113.Google Scholar
Hughes, S. (1990) Inside madness. British Medical Journal, 301, 1467–1468.Google Scholar
Inbar, D., Solomon, Z., Aviram, V., Spiro, S. & Kotler, M. (1989) Officer's attitudes toward combat stress reaction: Responsibility, treatment, return to duty and personal distance. Military Medicine, 154, 480–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keane, T. M., Scott, W. O., Chavoya, G. A., Lamparski, D. M. & Fairbank, J. H. (1985) Social support in Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder: a comparative analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 95–102.Google Scholar
Rahe, R. H. (1988) Acute vs. chronic psychological reactions to combat. Military Medicine, 153, 365–372.Google Scholar
Raphael, B. (1986) When Disaster Strikes. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Romo, J. M. & Schneider, R. J. (1982) Disaster, psychiatric casualties and implementation for future war. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, 128, 93–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosser, R. (1989) The King's Cross disaster. Paper presented at Post Incident Stress Disorder, Hamilton. Nov. Google Scholar
Small, R. H. (1984) Practical training in the management of psychiatric combat casualties. Military Medicine, 149, 276–279.Google Scholar
Solomon, Z. & Benbenishty, R. (1986) The role of proximity, immediacy and expectancy in front-line treatment of combat stress reaction among Israelis in the Lebanon war. American Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 613–617.Google Scholar
Solomon, Z., Mikulincer, M., Jakob, B. R. (1987) Exposure to recurrent combat stress: combat stress reactions among Israeli soldiers in the 1982 Lebanon war. Psychological Medicine, 17, 433–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutner, P. B., Bugg, F. & Allain, A. (1990) Person and situational correlates of post-traumatic stress disorder among POW survivors. Psychological Reports, 66, 912–914.Google Scholar
Sudak, H. S., Corradi, R. B., Martin, R. S. & Gold, F. S. (1984) Antecedent personality factors and the post-Vietnam syndrome: case reports. Military Medicine, 149, 550–554.Google Scholar
Taylor, A. J. W. & Fraser, A. G. (1981) Psychological Sequelae of Operation Overdue following the DC-10 Air-crash in Antarctica. Victoria University of Wellington (N.Z.) Publications in Psychology, No. 27.Google Scholar
Ursano, R. J., Holloway, H. C., Jones, D. R., Rodriguez, A. R. & Belenky, G. L. (1989) Psychiatric care in the military community; family and military stressors. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 40, 1284–1289.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.