Esposas de militares sufren estados depresivos y problemas emocionales, ya es hora de que se acabe la guerra

Esta semana hemos estado trabajando con una familia militar que sufre debido a que el padre está en

Afganistán y su esposa se encuentra muy deprimida.  Durante la Navidad el dolor de la ausencia se siente muy fuerte, en todos en la familia. La madre tiene que dar cara y ponerse firme, pero tiene un costo emocional muy grande. Mi gente, quedan 24 meses de guerra en Afganistán. Insistimos en que ya es hora de que los militares regresen a casa y que se apoye al pueblo afgano mediante ayuda real, humanitaria. El complejo militar industrial ; la industria de la guerra se lucran con el dolor y la sangre de los nuestros. Seguiremos luchando por la paz.

 Greg Zoroya, USA TODAY 1/13/2012

WASHINGTON — Wives of soldiers sent to war suffered significantly higher rates of mental health issues than those whose husbands stayed home, according to the largest study ever done on the emotional impact of war on Army wives.

Those rates were higher among wives whose husband deployed longer than 11 months, according to findings that will be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

For example, wives of soldiers deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan between one and 11 months had an 18% higher rate of suffering from depression than those whose husbands did not go to war, the study shows. When soldiers were deployed 11 months or longer, their wives had a 24% higher rate of suffering from depression.

The study looked at more than 250,000 Army wives, of which two-thirds had husbands who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2006.

"Mental health effects of current operations are extending beyond soldiers and into their immediate families," the study concludes.

"There's a very clear relationship between deployment and these mental health diagnoses in these women," said Alyssa Mansfield, an epidemiologist with RTI International, a non-profit research organization, and lead author on the study. "We find that these women are experiencing greater mental health problems and there's a need for services for them."

The study shows again "that when a servicemember deploys, the entire family deploys," said Air Force Maj. April Cunningham, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

She identified several programs designed to help families including Military OneSource,  800-342-9647 and Web-based program that provides counseling.

The study likely underestimates the mental impact of deployments on wives, Cunningham and Mansfield said, in part because of the continuing stigma within the military about seeking mental health care.