Dr. Muhammed Amin says PTSD is over diagnosed

Memorial University psychiatrist Dr. Amin Muhammad promotes research based on personal observation not science

Study says post-traumatic stress disorder being over-diagnosed reads the headline but the story is false.

Dr. Muhammed Amin, self-proclaimed expert on post traumatic stress syndrome, declares in copyrighted CP story today that “post-traumatic stress disorder is being over-diagnosed in Canada and the western world — a potentially costly situation that could lead to skyrocketing disability claims.” CP

The claim is not substantiated by medical science but it based on his “own experience, those of his colleagues and the vast amount of literature that currently exists about PTSD”. CP

This story will not doubt get re-printed without fact checking by newspapers around the world as a new revelation. How timely that Dr. Amin makes the claim a few days after Remembrance when Canadians and many western countries honor those who served in the military.

Dr. Amin is likely to get more notoriety than at any other time of the year, which is a career move if not science.

Dr. Amin does not appear to have any expertise in PTSD other than writing press releases. A scan of 100 articles he has published does not disclose one that deals with PTSD or any disability related to military service.

After the Remembrance Day parades fade in memory, military veterans face an uphill battle getting their benefits at the best of times. Both in Canada and the United States, veterans with PTSD are under-diagnosed and left untreated by a military bureaucracy.

Dr. Amin’s unscientific personal opinions on PTSD don’t help veterans.

The last part of the CP story refutes Dr. Amin. By then the headline and first few paragraphs have created the impression veterans are faking their disability claims.

Lt-Col. Rakesh Jetly, a psychiatrist and mental health adviser for the Canadian Forces, said the numbers aren’t necessarily high.

He suggested many of those receiving psychiatric benefits are Second World War and Korean War veterans who had not been treated previously.
“What’s been happening is there’s been more education and Veterans Affairs has been ramping up their programs, building their (Operational Stress Injury) clinics,” he said.

“Numbers increasing is actually good news because it means people who have been suffering for years are actually now getting care.”