AUSTIN (June 21, 2010)--The U.S. military is offering such alternative treatments as acupuncture for combat veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome for whom conventional therapies have failed.

Jerry Wesch, a clinical psychologist at a Fort Hood program that's one of the nation's biggest, told the Austin American-Statesman that the program has treated about 250 soldiers with alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, combined with counseling since it began in August 2008.

The program was modeled on one launched in 2007 at Fort Bliss as one of the first of its kind in the military.

The military now has at least 16 similar programs up and running.

Dr. Brian Earthman of Cedar Park, a psychiatrist and Army Reserve major, said the military decided to consider unconventional therapies after seeing a troubling increase in suicides among combat troops and veterans.