VA National Mental Health Microcomputer Data Base System

In the late 1980s the U.S. Congress and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Central Office developed several projects including the Enhanced Substance Abuse Project and PostTraumatic Stress Disorders Clinical Teams (PCT) to expand mental health care in the VA. Moneys were specifically earmarked for these programs as part of the nation’s “war on drugs” and a continuing focus on the special problems of combat veterans. Along with these funds was a mandate to track how the dollars were spent, and on whom. It is extremely important to know both the clinical and administrative features of treating these patients because controversy abounds both in the clinical and political arenas about just who the patients are, how they are treated, their prevalence in the general population, and rates of recidivism.