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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
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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

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