Veteran Services Transparency

PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESSORS

The RAND report concluded that a limited amount of evidence suggested a link between stressful exposures in theater and PTSD in Gulf War veterans, with less evidence regarding other psychiatric disorders. The report also indicated that few studies had directly assessed associations between stressful experiences in the Gulf War and the subsequent development of chronic somatic health problems. As a result, the report concluded that “it is inappropriate to rely upon stress exposure as a default explanation for the myriad health problems reported by Gulf War veterans” and that it is “equally inappropriate to assume that stress played no role.”

1997 Congressional report on Gulf War Army pilot

Major BK, a career Army pilot who had passed 15 flight physicals in the 11 years prior to deployment to the Gulf War began to feel increasingly ill in April 1991 but dismissed the symptoms as related to the harsh desert environment. On May 8 he reported ‘violent nausea, vomiting, diarrhea attack.’ On May 28, now back in Germany, he was admitted to a military hospital with ‘cardiac arrhythmias, severely bleeding gums, cough with sputum production, shortness of breath, severe fatigue, diarrhea, hair loss, skin rashes/lesions, and abdominal discomfort.’ Military doctors diagnosed Major BK with ‘post traumatic stress.’ With severe brain, nerve, heart and gastrointestinal problems but still being diagnosed with ‘somatoform disorder’ he was given a discharge from the Army.

1997 Congressional report on Gulf War Army Reservist

SSG CK reported: “While still in the Gulf I began experiencing symptoms that continue to this day. I had difficulty remembering significant events that happened days earlier… my knees and shoulders were especially painful and fatigue stayed with me constantly.” After the war, his symptoms worsened and included intestinal problems and headaches. He sought treatment in 1992 from VA doctors who—without any physical exam—referred him to the mental health clinic where he was diagnosed ‘PTSD’.  “I reported blinding headaches with only offers of aspirin, I reported memory loss…dismissed as stress.”

Sources: Gulf War Illness and Health of Gulf War Veterans from the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses