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Memorial Day may be the symbolic start of summer, but for the families of men and women who died serving in the Armed Forces, it’s a day for reflection and remembrance.

The American Psychiatric Association, the organization that writes the Diagnostic Statistical Manual and decides what counts as a mental illness, is meeting this week in Philadelphia. The agenda includes several military-related discussions, including whether or not to drop "disorder" from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Some advocate leaving the name as simply PTS — an acronym the military has already started to use — and others suggest a change to PTSI, with the "I" standing for "injury." Still others suggest no change at all.

Under the state’s new budget plan, four New York counties — Suffolk, Saratoga, Jefferson, and Rensselaer — are set to receive $200,000 each, to launch a pilot peer support program to help veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Many details about the 38-year-old American solider who allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians in a shooting spree are still unknown. However, the picture that is emerging is one of a career soldier under tremendous stress. Military sources say the gunman was married with two children. Although this was his first deployment in Afghanistan, he had over 10 years of service, including tours in Iraq. He also is reported to have previously suffered a traumatic brain injury and to have had problems at home after his last deployment. Despite those issues, the soldier — who is based at Fort Lewis in Washington state — was still deemed fit for combat duty.

Ron Goldman, Chief Executive Officer of Kognito, a developer of online role-playing simulations, and Ann Feder, a supervisor for mental health services for the regional VA, discuss the development of "Family of Heroes," a role-playing game that helps families and friends of returning veterans to adjust and recognize warning signs of PTSD. 

When members of the military return from a war zone, they go from living on high alert to sedate civilian life. The New Jersey program Vet2Vet has been working to reach those service members through peer-to-peer counseling.

In his remarks to the nation this week, President Barack Obama announced that the last of American combat troops in Iraq are on their way home. He also promised more money would be allocated to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for medication and psychotherapy to treat the country's 400,000 vets with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. But the VA is also increasingly prescribing another kind of treatment for vets coming home: music therapy. It has doubled the number of music therapists on staff compared to five years ago, meaning twice as many vets are eligible for the treatment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is set to issue new rules, as early as Monday, which should simplify the way veterans receive compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is one of the most common psychological injuries afflicting veterans today and creating new regulations for treatment is an attempt to break some of the barriers to treatment.

Since 2001 almost two million American service personnel have been deployed in either Afghanistan or Iraq. These conflicts have taken their toll on the mental wellbeing of many veterans — thousands have come home suffering from various levels of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Our partner, the BBC, has been investigating some innovative new programs to help identify, treat and prevent PTSD at Walter Reed military base in Washington D.C., and Fort Hood in Texas.