Mental health alert for UK troops leaving Iraq

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - As Britain prepares to pull hundreds of troops out of Iraq, doctors and nurses at home are getting ready to treat not only their physical wounds, but also the psychological ones.

More than four years of conflict in Iraq, and six years of fighting in Afghanistan, have taken a toll on the armed forces, both in terms of the number killed -- at last count 252 -- as well as the number mentally and physically wounded.

In the past week, the government has taken steps to tackle both aspects of the problem, amid criticism from the families of returning soldiers and some veterans' groups that not enough is being done to assist those fighting the unpopular wars.

One move was to increase the lump-sum payments made to soldiers severely wounded in attacks to as much as $570,000 (280,235 pounds).

But potentially more crucial in the long term was a decision to increase funding to Combat Stress, a charity that helps veterans suffering from severe war-induced mental conditions.

Combat Stress was founded a year after World War One to help servicemen returning with what was then called "shell shock" but today is often defined as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The charity has around 8,000 patients on its books, including veterans of World War Two, the Falklands War, the first Gulf War, the Balkans and now Iraq and Afghanistan.

The decision to increase its funding -- by a substantial 45 percent -- comes amid evidence that many more soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are being diagnosed with psychological damage than those returning from previous conflicts.