The South Florida veterans hospital sees itself on the leading edge of mental health treatment for veterans spanning multiple conflicts -- from World War II to Iraq.

Seventy times a month inside South Florida's veterans hospital, they meet for group therapy: reservists just back from Iraq and World War II veterans -- men, women and teenagers all diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Gulf War veterans get Mondays, and World War II POWs get Wednesdays -- as do the latest batch of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who all suffer the same symptoms as the older ex-soldiers.

Sleeplessness. Anger. Flashbacks. Anxiety. Inability to relax. Substance abuse. Survivors guilt.

''Trauma is trauma. War is war,'' said Dr. Daniella David, a psychiatrist who runs the Miami VA Health Care System's PTSD program and is herself a veteran, of the Israeli army.

Almost from the first days of the invasion of Iraq, the mental health staff at Miami's branch of the Department of Veterans Affairs began to prepare -- applying for grants, expanding the program, hiring more staff members and going into the community to find freshly returned soldiers in need.

Moreover, mental health officials at the Miami VA dispute the notion that fewer visits and less money spent per veteran reflect declining treatment.

They attribute a drop in annual mental health visits to improvements in psychiatry, which predated the invasion of Iraq: better diagnosing and earlier treatment, plus a whole new generation of much improved drugs.

And that means U.S. veterans suffering from mental illnesses get better anti-depressants and other medications, so doctors don't need to tinker as much with their medications.

''We look for it now,'' said Dr. Maria Llorente, chief of psychiatry at the Miami VA Health Services System. 'The attitude in the past was, `Buck up. Don't be a sissy.' ''

Still, the vast majority of the Miami VA's mental health patients last year were Vietnam veterans still suffering decades after the war -- 5,123 out of a total 12,523.

But post-9/11 veterans accounted for 1,565, compared with 1,846 from World War II.

''Some of these patients have been living with these symptoms and not seen anyone since World War II,'' said Llorente, who declared the treatment program a success. ``They just sort of toughed it out and lived with the symptoms.''

Every veteran receiving any kind of medical care here is now routinely screened for mental health issues. Forty percent are referred to at least one appointment -- and 15 percent are diagnosed with PTSD, Llorente said.

The Miami VA has even pioneered therapy through video teleconferencing -- linking a psychiatrist to former soldiers in the Florida Keys.

Across 16 hours a week, a psychiatrist sits before a computer terminal equipped with a camera and conducts therapy, by appointment, with a veteran before a similarly equipped device.

''They don't have to schlep the 150 miles,'' Llorente said.

''We were very concerned that a lot of the vets wouldn't like the setup,'' she said, citing as an example, psychotic patients who believe they are receiving special messages through their TV set. ``But for the most part, they truly appreciate the convenience.''

While weekly talk therapy with a psychiatrist or a psychologist is no longer the norm, some of the most seriously ill veterans get mental health visits three times a week, Llorente said.

''The VA did a very poor job of taking care of the Vietnam vets,'' she said. ``The VA now, I think, is trying very hard not to make that mistake again.''

Recently, she said, the Miami VA received $2 million to set up a 60-bed residence in Broward County for ''homeless vets with substance abuse and serious mental illness,'' from all conflicts.

It will open once Llorente hires a contractor to run it.

Also, she recently hired another psychiatrist for the PTSD program to work with returning Iraqi veterans and will hire a full-time psychologist to treat men and women fresh from combat.

Llorente said that the more firefights a soldier experienced, the more likely a diagnosis of PTSD. And in Miami, the veterans are as multicultural as the community.

''I've had white, Hispanic, Haitian, everything,'' Dr. David said. Added Llorente: ``I think we are much more customer-friendly now than we used to be -- because the veterans have demanded it. . . . Our vets don't have to wait like they used to. If you want to be seen by Mental Health today, you can be seen by Mental Health today.''

Of the 55,907 veterans who were seen in the Miami VA Health System overall last year, according to local VA statistics, 12,523 have diagnosed mental illnesses for which they got treatment.

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