Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases among veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars rose 46.4 percent in 2007, Reuters reported May 27.

The U.S. military reported 13,891 new PTSD cases in 2007, up from 9,549 in 2006. In the past five years, more than 38,000 PTSD cases have been documented among U.S. military personnel, mostly among the Army and Marines.

Longer, multiple tours of combat duty ordered by the Bush administration received blame for the trend, although experts also said that the military is doing a better job of identifying individuals with PTSD.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently ordered a policy change that allows soldiers to seek help for PTSD without jeopardizing their military careers.

A Rand Corp. study estimated that 18.5 percent of military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan showed signs of PTSD or depression.