VIDEO: Consider special mental health needs of female veterans

NEW ORLEANS – Healio/Psychiatry peer perspective board member Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, MD, MPH, discussed the mental health of female veterans, or “invisible veterans,” at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.

“Traditionally, the services that are offered to veterans are for older, single, male, often Vietnam-era veterans. So, unfortunately, these women often cannot find services that are right for them, and may end up homeless or on the streets,” Ritchie, who is also the chair of psychiatry at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., said.