The New York Times reports that the Pentagon has decided it won’t award the Purple Heart to war veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because it isn’t a physical wound. So, once again, the federal government chooses to reinforce the stigma of mental illness.

There are the standard reasons for the Pentagon’s decision. People fake PTSD. There’s no way to prove it. Medical technology doesn’t establish PTSD as objectively as is necessary to give a soldier such a high honor. Unspoken but implied is that there are just too many soldiers who suffer from PTSD — one in five.

Never mind recurring nightmares, uncontrolled rage, severe depression, the inability to hold a job, suicide impulses and suicides. To obtain a purple heart with its enhanced medical benefits, “Shedding blood is the objective.”

General Patton would have agreed with this result. During World War II while visiting a hospital, he encountered a soldier who had been misdiagnosed as suffering from battle fatigue. Infuriated, Patton accused the soldier of cowardice and slapped his face. Patton was disciplined for his action, once there was publicity in the media, but the Patton stereotype endures.

Though attitudes about mental illness have changed, soldiers — and employees — know the risk they run if they seek treatment for it. And the federal government, never known for being consistent, doesn’t help. 

The recently effective ADA Amendments Act expands protection for people who have disabilities, including mental disabilities. The Pentagon decision says soldiers who’ve risked life and limb for their country and come out with a mental disorder aren’t worthy of the Purple Heart. It’ll be interesting to see if, over time, the ADAAA helps change what continues to be bias toward those who suffer from mental illness.