Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has ordered all branches of the military to conduct a review of all mental health diagnoses dating back to 2001, The Associated Press is reporting.
The announcement came Wednesday after questioning from a Senate panel, amid concerns of the way military medical facilities are handling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other behavioral health evaluations. The Army had previously announced that it would review mental health diagnoses after it was found to have been reversing PTSD diagnoses due to the cost of providing care and benefits to service members. Now, says Panetta, the Air Force and Navy, which includes the Marine Corps, will follow suit.
Panetta said at the hearing that he was not satisfied with the military’s handling of the cases, The Associated Press reports, saying he promised it would do better.
“There are still huge gaps in terms of the differences in terms of how they approach these cases and how they diagnose the cases and how they deal with them, and frankly, that’s a whole area we have to do much better on,” Panetta said.
Heather Rudow is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Email her at hrudow@counseling.org.