PTSD and TBI: Getting help

Dr. Steve Silver, a Vietnam vet who served for 26 years as  director of the inpatient PTSD program at the Coatesville V.A. Medical Center, recommends these services and Web sites to veterans and their families. 

Also here is information on traumatic brain injury, considered to be the signature injury of the Iraq War.

Services

Troop & Family Counseling Services for National Guard & Reserves (1-888-755-9355)
These services are offered 24 hours, seven days a week, and are private and confidential. Mental-health professionals - social workers, psychologists, and specialized family and youth counselors - offer assistance. Soldiers and families get six face-to-face sessions free. The service is available up to six months after discharge from the Guard.

Veterans Administration
Veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom are eligible for two years worth of services from the V.A. after their return (that eligibility may be increased this year). They should contact their closest V.A. Medical Center, V.A. Outpatient Clinic or Veterans Center to enroll. Look in the blue pages of the telephone book under "Veterans" for the phone numbers.

National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
A site maintained by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Web sites for information and referrals

Pennsylvania Army National Guard
This site provides behavioral-health information to veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It offers information on mental-health resources.

Army Behavioral Health
A U.S. Army Medical Department site that provides information on mental-health resources for soldiers and family members.

Tricare Behavioral Health Plan
Soldiers and families are eligible for six months of mental-health care after discharge from active duty.

David Baldwin's Trauma Information Pages
Silver says this is probably the best single site for publications on PTSD.

Traumatic brain injury

» READ MORE: Traumatic brain injury

The National Institutes of Health offers information on what it is, whether there is treatment, the prognosis, and the research.