War causes mental illness in soldiers

One in every two cases of post-traumatic stress disorder in soldiers remains undiagnosed. This is the conclusion reached by Wittchen et al. in the current issue of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2012; 109(35): 559). A second original article published in this special issue, by Kowalski and colleagues, shows that more female soldiers than males contact the German army's psychosocial support services (Dtsch Arztbl Int 2012; 109 (35): 559).