America has been at war in Afghanistan and Iraq for longer than any other war. With fewer active soldiers in the Army, this has meant more tours of duty for the enlisted. The result is more "walking wounded". They come back from these campaigns restless, unable to sleep through the nights, woken by nightmares. These are the classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The DoD has teams of doctors whose responsibility it is to patch them up and hopefully get them ready for their next trip overseas. At first, the approach of these doctors was conservative. They did not feel it necessary to prescribe any of the more powerful medications. After all, there is considerable experience in the treatment of PTSD in civilian life. Time cures most things with a little help from the medicine cabinet and some counseling. Except, for the military, time is not a luxury they have. These soldiers must be patched up and sent back quickly. So the doctors have been turning to more powerful antipsychotic drugs like Seroquel, which has become the Veteran Affairs Department most purchased drug and, consequently, #5 in the national league of most prescribed drugs. Freedom of Information Act disclosures show expenditure rising 700% since 2001. There is just one problem with this strategy. Some of the vets are dying.

The evidence from the serving soldiers, the vets and the families of those who have died is that the Army doctors start off giving dosages more than double those prescribed in hospitals for patients suffering schizophrenia. They advise treating the drug rather like candy. If the first pill does little to help, take another. There are two worrying aspects to this. The first is the entirely human reaction of the patients to take the doctors at their word and take overdose levels. Since there is little guidance about possible interactions with any other drugs that might be taken, soldiers are also mixing in their own choices of anti-anxiety, sleeping pills, and painkillers. Internet pharmacies give instant access to as many drugs as you want to buy. The second issue is we have no statistics from the Veteran Affairs Department on the number of soldiers dying.

Independent research suggests there is an undocumented risk of sudden heart failure. There are already major class actions against the manufacturers of Seroquel for other side effects. The reason for the lack of litigation from the vets is easy to explain. They are all taking complicated mixtures of drugs and it is difficult to pick out any one as the main cause of deaths. It would be far better and safer for the VA or DoD doctors to use only FDA-approved drugs like Xanax in combination with counseling. This would be slower but more certain to produce a "cure". If there were adverse reactions, it would be easy to see and the FDA could take action. As it is, vets are proving their own worst enemies. Encouraged by their doctors whose only interest is to get the soldiers back into acton, Xanax plus painkillers plus antipsychotics like Seroquel are threatening mental and physical health.