The Purple Heart should be awarded to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who have service-related Traumatic Stress

Petition To: Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary Eric Shinseki.

The Purple Heart should be awarded to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who have service-related Traumatic Stress.

We, the signers of this petition, ask that you reverse the Pentagon’s decision and award the Purple Heart to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with service-related PTSD.

Denying Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering from PTSD the Purple Heart is a grave injustice. The grounds for this injustice, that PTSD is an ill-defined disorder susceptible to malingering, disregards nationally accepted diagnostic criteria for PTSD laid out in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and a vast and growing body of empirical research.

Skilled clinicians treating PTSD know it to be a mind-body disorder. Trauma lives in the psyche and central nervous system. Trauma related states of arousal involve activation of the endocrine, digestive, and cardiovascular systems. Resulting symptoms may include fatigue, insomnia, and distressing sensory sensations, in addition to such psychological syndromes as depression and anxiety.

The Pentagon’s refusal to recognize the wounds of modern warfare demeans the suffering veterans with PTSD endure and undermines their recovery.

Dr. Jane Moffett, Ph.D.