A ten-year look back at the association between the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) and costly mental health conditions

• Main Authors: Lim, Boon Hui, Liew, Yun Fang June
• Other Authors: Shen, Yu-Chu
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2013
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/27860

This study analyzes the effects of OEF/OIF deployment (including deployment location, frequency of deployment, and days deployed) on the probability of being diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The authors examine active duty personnel in all four services of the U.S. armed services since the start of the Global War on Terrorism. The data are provided by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) and TRICARE; they include deployment, administrative, and medical information for all active duty service personnel between FY2001 and FY2011 (N=2,800,999). The authors used descriptive statistics, as well as multivariate analysis (probit models), to assess the deployment effects. Results show that a deployment, especially to Iraq, is associated with an increased probability of being diagnosed with PTSD and that the magnitude of the effect is higher for deployments after 2005 for the Army. Serving in combat-arms specialty fields is also associated with a higher probability of being diagnosed with PTSD among Army and Marine Corps service members. Deployment is associated with a lower probability of diagnosis for bipolar disorder. The total cases of schizophrenia among active duty service members are very low; thus, this condition is excluded from the multivariate analysis.