VA on Brain Injuries: Get Some Sleep and You’ll Get Over It

A Veterans Affairs Department research paper titled Post Deployment Care for Returning Combat Veterans and published Wednesday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine dismisses most cases of traumatic brain injury in Afghanistan and Iraq as “mild” and says “most patients recover completely within one to three months.”

The paper added, “Most patients with a mild TBI or concussion require only supportive treatment and reassurance that symptoms typically resolve within several months.” TBI patients, the paper said, “should get adequate sleep, avoid activities that can lead to a second brain injury, avoid alcohol or other medications which have a sedative or stimulant affect (including caffeine/energy drinks), and be taught coping skills to assist with memory or irritability.”

I have a hard time reconciling these conclusions with a story last week that military suicides now exceed combat deaths and those suicides result from a combination of factors, including TBI, post-traumatic stress disorder, marriage and financial stress, and alcohol and drug abuse.

Has the VA decided to just ignore then signature wound of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars?