A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, confirms what many have suspected: the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have taken a tremendous toll on military families, particularly on spouses left waiting at home. The research for this study was conducted by RTI International, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Researchers found that the extended Army deployments increase incidences of depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health conditions for soldiers’ wives.
The study illustrated that women married to deployed soldiers more often sought mental health services and were more often diagnosed with conditions including depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, acute stress reaction and adjustment disorder.
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