Defining the mental health needs of returning Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom troops in Minnesota: A clinical survey, with special emphasis on Traumatic Brain Injury and Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder and with reference to a Veterans f

We present current available information on the types of neurological, psychiatric, and psychological problems shown by returning troops, with traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse being the most frequent. Generalizing this information to the state of Minnesota suggests that returning veterans may experience brain-related disorders and other adjustment problems that require professional intervention; we thus attempted to investigate the types of mental health problems evidenced by veterans in this state and the availability of appropriate services. Because returning veterans from Minnesota were not accessible for comparison, we surveyed veteran service representatives, clinical experts (board certified psychologists), and key personnel in hospitals and community mental health centers regarding symptom presentation of returning veterans, and diagnostic and treatment services. We also simulated questions likely to be posed by veterans regarding ease or difficulty in obtaining information and access to assessment and treatment modalities. In general, the results indicated outstate inadequacies in the existence, availability and/or accessibility of diagnostic and mental health treatment services for the kinds of problems that returning troops typically present. Such inadequacies are especially apparent in rural Minnesota. Of particular concern are services related to the diagnosis and treatment of sequelae of traumatic brain injuries. Recommendations focus on possibly developing a treatment center in west central Minnesota with both neuroimaging capabilities and multidisciplinary staff personnel