Psychiatric services : a journal of the American Psychiatric Association
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Comparative Study
Treatment of veterans with PTSD at a VA medical center: primary care versus mental health specialty care.
Recent military conflicts have generated significantly more demand for treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as concerns about the adverse effects of stigma associated with specialty mental health care. This study examined the extent to which veterans diagnosed as having PTSD received treatment exclusively in primary care settings. ⋯ Despite the VA's successful expansion of mental health services in primary care, the vast majority of patients with PTSD received treatment in mental health specialty clinics. Stigma does not seem to keep veterans with PTSD from receiving care in specialty mental health settings in spite of the availability of services in primary care.
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Some opinion leaders and mental health experts have called for replacing diagnostic terms such as schizophrenia with words that are less stigmatizing and that more clearly reflect recovery. Although the author notes that such efforts are laudable, he describes three concerns in regard to diagnostic relabeling. ⋯ The focus on relabeling makes stigma change look easy, which undermines the stigma change agenda. The author points to lessons that can be learned from other efforts to promote civil rights.