Editorial: Stop stigmatizing veterans

Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2006 | 7:10 a.m.

Over the past three years, according to a Cox News Service story, nearly 20,000 members of the U.S. military - many of them war veterans - have been hustled back into civilian life after being quickly diagnosed with "personality disorders."

The diagnosis, the news service reported, is often a misdiagnosis.

Rather than properly evaluate many soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors who exhibit symptoms of mental anxiety - such as post-traumatic stress disorder - the statistic suggests that the military finds it less expensive, faster and more convenient just to quickly diagnose them as afflicted with personality disorder and arrange for their honorable, and speedy, discharges.

Most service members discharged like this agree to it voluntarily, not understanding all of the long-term implications. Of course, employment problems for veterans are created when "personality disorder" is stamped permanently on their military records. The military also does not recognize this condition as one eligible for disability benefits.

A former Army medic who is now a San Diego attorney, and whose clients are mostly ex-military, was quoted in the Cox story. "It's an absolute disgrace to military medicine," Bridgette Wilson said. "I see it over and over again, the dramatic misuse of personality disorder diagnosis. It's a fairly slick and efficient way to move some bodies through."

Pointed out in the story is that discharges based on personality disorders are quick and fairly easy. Only one psychologist's finding - sometimes after an evaluation lasting just minutes - is enough for the disorder to become official. Other mental conditions, however, require the involvement of a medical review board, a process that can take months.

Actual personality disorders, according to the medical books, trace their roots to experiences in childhood or adolescence. One of the dangers of routinely discharging service members for this reason is that it often overlooks the recent onset of mental problems. Service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, quite understandably, could have mental disorders related to their combat experiences, and not to some pre-existing experience associated with childhood. In cases of service-connected mental disorders, it's the military's responsibility to provide care, or to arrange a discharge under a proper evaluation enabling the veteran to receive disability benefits.

It is outrageous that our military would risk the future of any veteran because it wants to save time, effort and money on proper evaluations. Congress should investigate the military's discharge policies and order reforms that would include, at government expense, re-evaluating any veteran wishing to challenge his discharge based on a personality disorder.