Trump Ought To Have His Head Examined About Brain Injuries (And Visit Walter Reed While He's At It)

That President Trump should have his head examined goes without saying. But this is especially so when he sees fit to trivialize brain injuries sustained by our troops whom he sees fit to send in harm's way.


When an Iranian missile struck a U.S. military base in Baghdad, Trump claimed no troops had been injured in the attack. This turned out to be a lie. Quel surprise. At least 11 troops sustained concussion like injuries in the attack and were flown to U.S. bases in Kuwait and Germany for further treatment.


However, Trump has minimized the seriousness of brain injuries. While at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump stated:


I heard they had headaches and a couple of other things ... and I can report it is not very serious. No, I don't consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I've seen. I've seen what Iran has done with their roadside bombs to our troops. I've seen people with no legs and with no arms. I've seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area, that war. No, I do not consider that to be bad injuries, no.


A 2017 study from the National Institutes of Health says otherwise noting that the correlation between TBI (traumatic brain injury) and PTSD, depression, suicide ideation, suicide attempts and suicide:

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been called a “signature injury” of Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) report nearly 350,000 incident diagnoses of TBI in the U.S. military since 2000. Among those deployed, estimated rates of probable TBI range from 11–23%.

Numerous consequences of traumatic brain injury are reported in the literature. Among veterans with positive TBI screens in Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, 80% indicate comorbid psychiatric diagnoses. Up to half of all service members with combat-related mild TBI (mTBI) meet criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Over one-third with a history of mTBI have depression, with increased risk of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide completion. Adjusting for psychiatric comorbidities, veterans with a history of TBI are 1.55 times more likely to die from suicide than those without TBI.Additional sequelae associated with mTBI in veterans include cognitive impairment, alcohol misuse and binge drinking, pain disorders, and unemployment. This corresponds to civilian research where TBI has been linked to suicide,lower quality of life, and mood and anxiety disorders.

Chances are this study is too involved for Trump to get his brain around. At the very least, he should visit wounded soldiers with TBI at Walter Reed the next time he goes there to get his head examined.