Psychological conditions diagnosed among veterans seeking department of defense care for Gulf War-related health concerns

The Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program is a US military program that provides a voluntary, clinically oriented evaluation for Gulf War health c oncerns. This article presents administrative data on psychological conditi ons (as coded using the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revis ion) from the first year of the program. The most commonly diagnosed psycho logical conditions were medically unexplained physical-symptom syndromes; d epression and anxiety, including post-traumatic stress disorder; and alcoho l abuse or dependence. Psychological conditions were significantly related to a higher number of workdays lost, and the 19% of veterans with a primary diagnosis of a psychological condition reported 28% of the lost workdays a mong veteran who participated, Stressful Gulf War experiences were weakly b ut significantly related to psychological conditions. We conclude that amon g Gulf War veterans seeking evaluation for Gulf War-related health concerns , psychological conditions are common and are associated with important occ upational morbidity.