All the therapists listed on the PTSDhelp directory have agreed to provide their professional services for no more than £35.00 Per individual therapy session to UK service personnel serving or retired who are affected by PTSD.
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Analysing how many service personnel and veterans suffer from mental disorders is
difficult. Ian Palmer, a former lieutenant-colonel and now the Ministry 
of Defence's
civilian expert on veterans' mental health, recently admitted: “We have no idea of
the size or scale of the problem.”
Many servicemen and women often only see a doctor years after the originating cause. The military stiff-upper-lip culture does not help.
Every year 4,000 new mental disorders are diagnosed within the Armed Forces (based on 2007 data), which may or may not be service-related. However, what is known is that 180 service personnel develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) every year - a condition with proven links to experience on the battlefield. The rate of mental disorders among army members who served in Iraq or Afghanistan is also higher than among those who did not. American studies, based on 2006 data, found that up to 19 per cent of US troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan had symptoms of PTSD.
The British orthodoxy, however, is that deployment to a war zone does not significantly increase the chance of developing a mental disorder. The study by the King's Centre for Military Health Research found that only 4 per cent of those fighting in the 2003 Iraqi invasion had PTSD.
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Bottom of FormTop of FormBottom of FormTop of FormBottom of FormNew results, based on more recent data, will be published in the summer. The group's head, Professor Simon Wessely, says it is plausible that a clear link between deployment and mental illness will be established, but points out those British troops tend to be older and have more experience than their US counterparts - both significant safeguards against mental illness.Anecdotal evidence suggests that more veterans are seeking help. Charities such as Combat Stress are swamped with new referrals. Whatever the exact numbers, health professionals agree that demand for mental healthcare is outpacing supply.
A stiff upper lip does not help when it comes to PTSD