In a story from Gregg Zoroya printed in USA TODAY:

The number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder from the Department of Veterans Affairs jumped by nearly 20,000 — almost 70% — in the 12 months ending June 30, VA records show.

...

The total of mental health cases among war veterans grew by 58% from 63,767 on June 30, 2006, to 100,580 on June 30, 2007, VA records show. The mental health issues include PTSD, drug and alcohol dependency and depression. They involve troops who left the military and sought health care from the veterans department.

Comment: In medical school we learned about the Herxheimer effect. The idea is a patient starts taking an antibiotic and gets sicker. The proposed rationale is bacteria die and the breakdown products cause a paradoxical fever spike. There may be some positive results in the numbers. It is possible the increased number of cases resulted from a health system more attuned to combat stress injuries, better access to care and reduced stigma. The real truth is either way we don't know what the numbers mean. We need to do a better job of disease surveillance.

The sad thing is by the time these problems get to the VA it is too late. There has to be a way to strengthen our warfighters better mental armor and intervene at the small unit level.

Reference: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-10-18-veterans-stress_N.htm