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Operation Healthy Reunions

NMHA is proud to champion Operation Healthy Reunions, a first-of-its-kind program that provides education and helps to bust the stigma of mental health issues among soldiers, their families, and medical staff to ensure that a greater number of military families receive the prompt and high-quality care they deserve.

In partnership with the leading military organizations, NMHA distributes educational materials on such topics as reuniting with your spouse and children, adjusting after war, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The Facts

  • Mental disorders reported in more than 26% of returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan (Government Accountability Office)

  • 1 in 6 troops from Iraq met the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety disorder or PTSD (Department of Defense)

  • There is a sharp rise in divorce rates for military personnel: a 28% increase last year, and a 53 % increase since 2000 (USA Today)

  • About 1/3 of the adult homeless population has served their country in the Armed Services (Department of Veterans Affairs)

  • The Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve accounted for more than half of all U.S. deaths in August and in September of 2005, according to Pentagon figures. In sum, reservists have accounted for one-quarter of all U.S. deaths since the Iraq war began, and the proportion has grown over time.

  • At present, of the approximately 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, about half are reservists.

  • More than one in four U.S. troops have come home from the Iraq war with health problems that require medical or mental health treatment, according to the Pentagon's first detailed screening of servicemembers leaving a war zone.

  • Almost 1,700 servicemembers returning from the war this year said they harbored thoughts of hurting themselves or that they would be better off dead. More than 250 said they had such thoughts "a lot." Nearly 20,000 reported nightmares or unwanted war recollections; more than 3,700 said they had concerns that they might "hurt or lose control" with someone else. (Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The National Mental Health Association (NMHA) has several resources available to help you and your family deal with the homecoming. For more information, contact your local Mental Health Association, or NMHA at www.nmha.org or 800-969-NMHA (6642).