Recent press reports on science, technology and health re: combat veterans and military. Edric Thompson, CERDEC Public Affairs via Army.mil:

Maj. Gen. Nick Justice, Research, Development and Engineering Command commanding general and key members of his staff traveled to Apple headquarters March 5. Apple officials gave the Army group tours of its laboratories and other facilities and talked about some examples of where the military is already using Apple technology. The Army's research and development command is evaluating commercial hand-held solutions such as iPad, iPhone, iPod, iMac, and MacBook platforms. ...

"We're continuing to leverage commercial technology for battlefield uses; we can't ignore that kind of existing knowledge," [Justice] said. "Our job, as stewards of the taxpayer's dollar, is to adopt and adapt appropriate commercial technology and offer the best possible solution to the warfighter."

The meeting was part of the Army's efforts to support "Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications," an initiative to demonstrate the technical capabilities of hand-held devices and applications to the Army and gathering warfighter. The working group is tasked with looking at how commercial cellular technology - including devices, applications and networks - could be utilized in a tactical environment.

Some top notch educational combat trauma and PTSD videos are available online, specifically aimed at patients/counselors. Above, from the Hazelden Foundation's "A Guide for Living with PTSD: Perspectives for Professionals and Their Clients:"

Through compelling client testimonials and expert guidance from renowned researchers at the Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center and the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, this video educates clinicians, clients, and families on the history, epidemiology, challenges, and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sample cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions between counselor and client model realistic applications of the concepts presented. Free online training with credits is available from the National Center for PTSD.

Last week, Henry Gustav Molaison -- a name most would not recognize even though he was the neuroscience field's most famous of patients -- passed away at the age of 80. Since 1953, when experimental brain surgery to alleviate severe epileptic seizures severely damaged his ability to lay down new memories, Molaison was known simply as "H.M."

From Wikipedia:

Henry Gustav Molaison (February 26, 1926 – December 2, 2008), better known as HM or H.M., was a memory-impaired patient who was widely studied from the late 1950s until his death. His case played a very important role in the development of theories that explain the link between brain function and memory, and in the development of cognitive neuropsychology, a branch of psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relates to specific psychological processes.

Before his death, he resided in a care institute located in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, where he was the subject of ongoing investigation. Audio recordings from the 1990s of him talking to scientists were released in early 2007. Henry loved to do crossword puzzles, play bingo, watch TV, and socialize with the people who took care of him.

Not surprisingly, in February 2007, NPR's Weekend Edition [listen] introduced their audience to the man whose ill-fated surgery gave scientists a clearer window into the body's most complex and vital organ: the brain. The program also provides a short introductory primer on memory and the brain.

Due to PTSD and memory's unique relationship -- with past traumatic experiences feeling vivid, painfully immediate and even more "real" than recent events rather than the distant memories they should be for its sufferers -- H.M. (who was an "n of 1," or the only person who is known to have had the surgical procedure performed on him; therefore, the only one available in this specific research pool) increased our knowledge base in this area, too.


In extended, a journey into the world of Molaison's amnesia, along with a host of fresh research coming out on the subject.

Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times writes of the special blast category that is combat-related traumatic brain injury (TBI). The entire piece is well worth a read, but I'd like to share a few of the more statistics-heavy grafs:

As many as 300,000, or 20 percent, of combat veterans who regularly worked outside the wire, away from bases, have suffered at least one concussion, according to the latest Pentagon estimates. About half the soldiers get better within hours, days or several months and require little if any medical assistance. But tens of thousands of others have longer-term problems that can include, to varying degrees, persistent memory loss, headaches, mood swings, dizziness, hearing problems and light sensitivity. ...

Little is known medically by doctors or scientists about what happens to a brain as a result of a powerful bomb blast, as opposed to car crashes on a highway, blows to the head on a football field or a bullet wound. These are the first wars in which soldiers, protected by strong armor and rapid medical care, routinely survive explosions at close range and then return to combat.

The bomb blasts, which throw off energy waves — atmospheric overpressures and underpressures — that are absorbed by the body, add a little-studied dimension to the trauma. Scientists are only now beginning to study the extent of the damage.

From Health Day News:

The brain mechanism that turns off traumatic feelings associated with bad memories has been identified by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, who said their finding may lead to the development of new drugs to treat panic disorders.

When a person suffers a traumatic experience, environmental cues often become associated with the bad experience. Subsequent exposure to the same cues can cause fear or even panic attacks, according to study author Rainer Reinscheid, an associate professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences.

The UCI team, along with colleagues from the University of Muenster in Germany, found that a protein called neuropeptide S (NPS) eliminates traumatic responses to bad memories by working on a group of neurons inside the amygdala, the brain region where negative memories are stored.

• Arriving today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the article Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Related Problems Before and After Military Combat Deployment delivers the results of "one of the first major studies to emerge from the Pentagon's landmark 'Millennium' study, launched in 2001." According to Carla K. Johnson of AP, "researchers analyzed data from nearly 80,000 military personnel, including more than 11,000 who were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan," and found that 26 percent (>600 of 2,400) of troops who reported no binge drinking prior to the study "developed the problem after deployment and combat exposure." Guard and Reserve troops had a 60 percent higher rate of developing "[n]ew patterns of regular heavy drinking and alcohol problems."
  
  
• In the July/August 2008 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, A Prospective Study of PTSD and Early-Age Heart Disease Mortality Among Vietnam Veterans reports that having PTSD "significantly raises the risk of premature death from heart disease...[being] roughly twice as likely to die from heart disease during follow up as veterans without PTSD." Reuters' Megan Rauscher quotes the study's chief researcher, Dr. Joseph Boscarino, saying that the work "confirms that PTSD is a major cause of heart disease." He said the effect PTSD has on the body is the same as "smoking two to three packs of cigarettes per day for more than 20 years."
  
  
• A five-year Emory University study sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health is looking at an antibiotic, "a 50-year-old tuberculosis drug called D-cycloserine, or DCS," as a possible treatment for anxiety and PTSD. Eric Hagerman of Popular Science reports that "veterans with PTSD take the drug or a placebo, don a virtual-reality helmet, and re-create their worst nightmares...[while a] therapist guides them safely through the traumatic memory." The drug, which has shown promise in treating obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobias like fear of heights, works on the brain's amygdala by allowing the traumatic memory to be "reshaped" or lessened. Clinical trials are ongoing.

This month marks the one year anniversary of the opening of the Fort Bliss Restoration and Resilience Center in Texas.

Back in May, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited the groundbreaking facility, which offered up the first test of the Army's new holistic Warrior Resilience Program, saying, "This center here is illustrative of what can be done."

The one-of-a-kind program offers its participating Afghanistan and Iraq veterans group and individual therapy sessions with meditation, yoga, acupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic and hot-stone therapy treatments.

[Fort Bliss is not the only enlightened embrace of a more holistic approach to treating combat PTSD by the Army. A welcome progression forward of military culture occurred in March when the Army sought proposals for $4 million in grant monies to be spent investigating "spiritual ministry, transcendental meditation, yoga, bioenergies such as Qi gong, Reiki, [and] distant healing."]

Building on all of this, it's great to see that Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, following a visit to Fort Bliss last week, seems to agree with the movement.

Recently received the following request:

We are currently recruiting research subjects to participate in either of three federally funded research protocols conducted in Manchester, NH and Boston, MA. Is there a way that we might solicit participation from your readership?

Specific details, contact info in extended.

Up to 20% of soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan get TBI according to an Army report [pdf] released in January.

In addition to the 1-in-5 figure, some returning soldiers with the milder form of TBI (aka concussions) don't even know they have the injury most associated with IED attacks. The military had been flat-footed in the opening years of the war when it came to treating TBI; their limitations in care are still apparent. Fortunately, some private health care providers are providing relief to military families trying to recover from the more devastating of TBI injuries.

Sunday's CBS Evening News interviewed Brig. Gen. Donald Bradshaw, who heads up the military's TBI Task Force, on these issues.

Two new studies have arrived on the scene this first week of the New Year. Main findings:

A groundbreaking study of 1,946 male veterans of World War II and Korea suggests that veterans with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are at greater risk of heart attacks as they age. The new study is the first to document a link between the stress disorder symptoms and future heart disease, and joins evidence that veterans with the stress disorder also have more autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and psoriasis.

A second study, funded by the Army, found that soldiers returning from combat in Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder reported worse physical health, more doctor visits, and more missed workdays. The Army study is based on a survey of 2,863 soldiers one year after combat.

"The burden of war may be even greater than people think," said the first study's lead author, Laura Kubzansky of the Harvard School of Public Health.

Kubzansky goes on to say that the results may be due to the repeated release of adrenaline in those who deal with PTSD after a traumatic event. This may end up wearing down the cardiovascular system over time.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more PTSD study results...

Another study, looking at the link between memory and trauma via experiences of those closest to the World Trade Center on September 11, may shed some light on PTSD flashbacks:

Most Americans remember where they were on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. But a new brain-scan study suggests that not all those memories were created equally. "If you were near the World Trade Center, your memories are qualitatively different from other people -- even those who were elsewhere in Manhattan," said lead researcher Elizabeth Phelps, a professor of psychology at New York University.

Specifically, people who were within about two miles of Ground Zero on that day now retain especially vivid, detailed recollections of the scenes and events of that morning -- a kind of recall that experts call "flashbulb memories." Brain imaging suggests that these memories are especially strong because the amygdala -- a brain area focused on fear and memory -- kicked into high gear as these people watched that morning's catastrophic events unfold.

Nearly all of the study participants who had been in lower Manhattan on 9/11 said they experienced first-hand the sights, sounds and smells of that day. And many said they feared for their own safety. All of that may have played a role in imprinting these highly potent memories in their brains, Phelps said. "This isn't unique to 9/11," she added, noting that flashbulb memories can be laid down in any kind of traumatic event, be it personal or very public....

The subdued parahippocampal function seen in the Downtown group might play a role in PTSD, Phelps said. "The amygdala helps you form a very strong memory," she explained. But in the normal brain, the hippocampus acts as a counterweight, "giving you the ability to keep it all in the right context."

With PSTD, the hippocampus' ability to reign in frightening memories may get lost. "We know that there are differences in the hippocampus in people that will go on to develop PTSD and those who will not," Phelps said.

Researchers are also examining the relationship between PTSD and pain:

PTSD may alter the way the brain handles pain, a new study shows. The researchers included Elbert Geuze, PhD, of the Netherlands' Department of Military Psychiatry. Their study appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Geuze and colleagues studied 24 male Dutch veterans who had served on U.N. peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, Cambodia, or Bosnia. ... The veterans rated how much pain they felt when their hands were briefly subjected to heat at temperatures ranging from 104-118 degrees Fahrenheit. Those with PTSD had a higher tolerance for the heat, compared to those without PTSD.

The veterans also got brain scans using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they took the heat test. Those brain scans showed different patterns of brain activity between the veterans with and without PTSD. For instance, the veterans with PTSD showed less activity in part of their amygdala, a brain area that's involved in the brain's pain response.

Last week, the Army released the following "snapshot of the morale and mental health" of our troops:

The recent data on troops who have deployed to Iraq, released in a Dec. 19 report, paints a stark picture. For example, the suicide rate among soldiers supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom almost doubled in 2005, going up to 19.9 per 100,000 troops from 10.5 per 100,000 the year before.

Yet the data from 2003 show the rate that year to be 18.8 per 100,000 troops, which makes officials cautious about drawing conclusions. “We haven’t made a connection between the stress on the force with a significant increase in suicides,” said Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, Army surgeon general, who discussed the data Dec. 20 at the Pentagon. “That isn’t to say there aren’t any. [But] I don’t have any evidence that there is a correlation between PTSD and suicides.”

The report also found that troops who have deployed to Iraq more than once reported higher levels of acute stress symptoms as well as higher levels of anxiety and depression than those serving their first tours. Almost 19 percent of troops with at least one prior tour in Iraq reported acute stress symptoms, compared with 12.5 percent on their first tour.

On the plus side, troops say getting help in theater is now easier and the stigma of seeking that help is decreasing. The study was compiled the Mental Health Advisory Team III, established at the request of Multi-National Force-Iraq, using data collected in October and November 2005 in theater. Similar assessments were made in late 2003 and 2004.

Last year, European researchers measured the effect personality has on the incidence of PTSD:

[O]ne study suggests that, whether a veteran of combat or a victim of accident or crime, your chances of facing the anxiety or depression of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may hinge as much on your personality as on your experience.

Inge Bramsen, a psychologist at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, tested 572 men who participated in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in the former Yugoslavia for PTSD. Men who reported seeing the highest number of stressful events—shootings or dead people, for example—showed the most severe symptoms. But those who rated highest on personality traits such as negativism and paranoia before deployment also tended to show more signs of PTSD later. A hostile person may see more personal menace in events than others do, says Bramsen. An anxious person may also cope with stressful situations less effectively.

Another study appears to show the gradual development of PTSD over time:

A study released in October by the American Journal of Psychiatry .. of 613 U.S. soldiers revealed that as time goes by after war service, PTSD becomes more evident, particularly in veterans with physical injuries. When the soldiers in the study first returned from overseas, the level of PTSD was 4 percent. After four months, that rate rose to 12 percent. Of those who were diagnosed with PTSD after seven months, 78.8 percent had screened negative for the condition at one month.

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• Psychiatric News: Iraq and Afghanistan Combat Experiences Compared
  
• JAMA's Iraq Combat Mental Health Study: A Review
  
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• Neuroscience Study: Prefrontal Cortex Hyperactivity in Brain Associated with Learned Fear, PTSD
  
• Study: Common PTSD Med Guanfacine As Effective As Placebo
  
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• Psychological Bulletin from APA: Females Have Higher Rates of PTSD

As a recent incident over Christmas clearly shows, the holidays can be difficult for many returning veterans. The intensity of feelings and reactions is increased, and depression can often be most debilitating during what is supposed to be a season of cheer.

One explanation of this is found in today's Mail Tribune:

"The holiday period is a hard time for them," said Hood, head of the trauma rehabilitation program in psychology services at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and Clinics in White City. "Post-traumatic stress disorder and all trauma effects are directly related to memories of the past interfering with our normal, everyday functioning," she explained. "That happens by something going on in the environment bringing up or triggering the memory."

And no holidays compare with Christmas and New Year when it comes to generating memories, she said. "It can be anything — songs on the radio, the smell of cookies baking, Santa in somebody's office," she said. "Those memories may be good but just the fact your brain is working more on memories is going to make the other stuff come up," she added. "This time of year, we focus a lot on helping people get through the holidays and how to take care of yourself." ..

"Anger is the biggest issue they are dealing with," Hood said of her experience working with veterans. "That includes anger that things have changed, anger that they've come back and things aren't like they dreamed how it would be, and anger that they've changed. "A lot of them are angry that they no longer enjoy the things they used to," she added. "Many have a feeling of distance from their old lives, feeling a loss of connection."

And for some it could be anger or fear over having to return to the combat zone again. And again. And again. In the age of multiple deployments and stop-loss orders and IRR call-ups, how can we expect our troops to put it all behind them, when they know they'll have to face it all over again?

From AP, Iraq vets may have memory lapses:

"Veterans of the fighting in Iraq are more likely than other U.S. soldiers to suffer mild memory and attention lapses back home, but they also tend to have better reaction time, at least in the short-term, a study found. ...

The study involved 654 soldiers who took mental-function tests a few months before going to Iraq in mid-to-late 2003 and within three months after returning in 2005. The researchers noted subtle changes in their scores. If the changes persist, "that's where you have to worry about people developing stress-related emotional problems like post-traumatic stress disorder," Vasterling said.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for related posts...


 Related Posts

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• Combat Stress: A Look Back at the New England Medical Journal Study
  
• A Sample of the Latest PTSD Study Results
  
• Neuroscience Study: Prefrontal Cortex Hyperactivity in Brain Associated with Learned Fear, PTSD
  
• Study: Common PTSD Med Guanfacine As Effective As Placebo
  
• Study: Vets' View on Combat Injury Effects PTSD
  
• Study: Higher Memory, Attention Lapses for OIF Vets
  
• Psychological Bulletin from APA: Females Have Higher Rates of PTSD

A recent press release from Emory University broadcasts the news that researchers are studying a new form of treatment program hoping to help returning combat veterans coping with PTSD get better quicker. The treatment program combines the drug d-cycloserine (DCS) and virtual reality therapy to temper the fear associated with and power of traumatic memories.

[UPDATE - Aug 13, 2008]: New study details.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

From WebWire:

Emory University researchers will embark on a study they hope will enhance the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and help soldiers who are affected get better faster. The risk for PTSD among Iraq War veterans is estimated to be 18 percent, according to a 2004 study that examined the mental health impact of the war. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD among American Vietnam war veterans is 30.9 percent for men and 26.9 percent for women. PTSD is a serious condition that can become a chronic problem, with devastating life-altering effects on soldiers and their families.

Barbara Rothbaum, PhD, ABPP, and Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD, from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, will lead a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) using the drug d-cycloserine (DCS) combined with virtual reality therapy.

DCS binds to neurotransmitter receptors in the amygdala called NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors. The mechanisms governing the fear response are located in that region of the brain. Previous rodent studies of DCS by Dr. Ressler and Michael Davis, PhD, of Emory School of Medicine, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience have shown that it has a positive effect on the extinction of fear. The first trial using DCS with Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for acrophobia, or fear of heights, was completed in 2004, and was very successful.

"We were very excited about the results of the acrophobia study and we are delighted to have the opportunity to move forward with the PTSD study," says Dr. Rothbaum, a professor of psychiatry and director of Emory’s Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program. "A large part of the problem PTSD patients have is the fear of the memory itself. Although the memories will never really go away, we believe that the DCS will make it easier for patients to learn how not to fear their memories."

Co-investigators in the study will include Michael Davis, PhD, Erica Duncan, MD and Maryrose Gerardi, PhD, all faculty members of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine.

"Persons with PTSD experience both psychological and physical effects, and just like any other illness, PTSD can worsen and become harder to treat the longer someone waits to be treated," says Dr. Ressler. "We hope this study will open up some new doors that will help us get people back to their normal lives as soon as possible."

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Newsweek today runs a web exclusive (why it's not in the print edition, I'll never know...) dealing with the hard realities facing our returning troops coping with brain injuries coupled with PTSD. Take a glimpse inside their world through one soldier's experience.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Newsweek offers us the story of Sam Reyes, a Marine who was severely wounded in a Fallujah suicide bomb attack in September of 2004. He was one of the fortunate ones to have survived that day (12 others weren't as lucky); but, injuries he most likely would not have survived in previous wars have left his life radically changed. Following a painful 18 months of recovery, he's still struggling to piece his life back together.

Although his physical wounds have largely healed—save for scattered scars across his forehead and his sense of taste, which has yet to return—the bomb blast left Reyes, now 21, with a less visible, but devastating injury to his brain. Like many Iraq vets who survive the concussive force of an improvised explosive device, or IED, Reyes is now sometimes unable to recognize his friends or family, to recall what he just read or heard, to concentrate or to read faster than the average second-grader. ...

Like more than 1,700 military personnel wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years, Marine Cpl. Samuel Reyes Jr. is suffering from traumatic brain injury, known in military jargon as TBI, which leaves survivors unable to perform the most basic cognitive functions. According to officials at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, TBI affects more than 25 percent of bomb-blast survivors like Sam Reyes, making it the signature injury of the Iraq war.

In fact, military officials say that were it not for advances in body armor, helmets and drastically improved battlefield medicine, the majority of survivors being treated for TBI would not have even survived their injuries as recently as the first gulf war 15 years ago. The increasing number of TBI survivors and the vexing limitations they face has become an enormous challenge for both military medicine and for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will treat these survivors for life.

"In the military, the question is 'are you battle ready?'" says Dr. Harriet Zeiner, a clinical neuropsychologist for the VA in Palo Alto, Calif., where Reyes is being treated. "Our criteria at the VA [are], are you going to be able to hold down a job, sustain a relationship, get married, have kids or do you have something that's going to impair you?"

For Reyes, and hundreds of others suffering from TBI, the answers to these questions are still far from clear. The diffuse but debilitating symptoms of traumatic brain injury—which sometimes are not apparent until months after the bomb blast—can leave veterans with festering psychological problems and anger that often lead to failed relationships and careers, substance-abuse problems and the inability to adapt to civilian life.

Many TBI patients, like Reyes, are also suffering from posttraumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), a psychological condition affecting many combat veterans and other trauma survivors that is marked by flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety and irritability. The combination of TBI and PTSD, says the VA's Zeiner, "is pretty deadly." Reyes suffered damage to the frontal lobe of his brain, the area that helps a person calm himself after a stressful or frightening experience and where problem-solving takes place.

When Reyes becomes anxious, he quickly escalates to a state of agitation. It's not uncommon, says Zeiner, for those suffering from TBI and PTSD to "either drink themselves into a stupor," in an effort to self-medicate, or to become agoraphobic, afraid to go out where they may have to contend with overwhelming stimuli.

Reyes goes on to explain how his memory loss frustrates himself and others around him. He also explains his journey receiving care for his PTSD.

Soon after he arrived at the brain-injury center, Reyes's doctors began trying to convince him to go for treatment at the VA's PTSD center in nearby Menlo Park, where Vietnam veterans work side by side with active-duty Marines and soldiers, trying to find ways to deal with the lingering trauma of their respective wars. At first, Reyes resisted, worried that his fellow Marines might think he was weak. Meeting the other men in the PTSD treatment center had a big impact on him.

"Some of them are real tough, big guys, real smart, and that made me feel better. It showed me I wasn't the only one in the whole world who would have it." Reyes says his fellow Marines who haven't gotten help are suffering. "I tried to let some guys know who I thought could use help, and they said, 'Nah, I don't need that. I take sleep medicine and I drink, so I'm doing pretty good'." Although the Marine Corps is sending some mental-health workers into the field, Reyes says he didn't have any discussions about combat-related stress.

He got a brochure about PTSD at one point, but says it didn't explain the symptoms. "It scares me that all these guys could be just like me, having the same problems, and they're getting ready to ruin a whole lot of their life."

As the population of wounded Iraq veterans increases, the military is also trying to raise awareness about TBI, especially the less severe cases like Reyes's, which can easily be misdiagnosed or overlooked in the chaos of battlefield medicine. The Defense Department is developing a training course for medics to teach them how to screen for TBI in the field. Any injured combatant who has lost consciousness is a candidate for TBI diagnosis.

The military is also making plans to station a TBI expert at medical facility in Germany where the U.S. wounded are first evacuated after leaving Iraq. "I'm sure people do get misdiagnosed , says Dr. Warren Lux, deputy director of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center at Walter Reed. "That is why we are trying to get education out there."

Read the rest of the piece, and then let Newsweek know you appreciate the coverage on this topic -- and perhaps they might even run it in the print version next time, too.


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Continuing to explore the various definitions of PTSD, today we'll look at what's found inside the covers of the Columbia University Encyclopedia. Other official definitions already examined in this series include those of the VA, the Army's Combat Stress Field Manual, as well as that found on the National Center for PTSD website. Seek knowledge, gain power...

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

From the Columbia University Encyclopedia:

post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mental disorder that follows an occurrence of extreme psychological stress, such as that encountered in war or resulting from violence, childhood abuse, sexual abuse, or serious accident. The stressful event is usually followed by a period of emotional numbness and denial that can last for months or years. After that period, symptoms such as recurring nightmares, “flashbacks,” short-term memory problems, insomnia, or heightened sensitivity to sudden noises may begin. In some cases outbursts of violent behavior have been observed. The usual treatment for PTSD is individual psychotherapy, including anxiety management, or group psychotherapy with others who have the disorder. Some antianxiety and antidepressant drugs are being studied for their effectiveness.

Citation:
"posttraumatic stress disorder." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003. Answers.com 10 Mar. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/posttraumatic-stress-disorder

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Scientists are using their growing knowledge of brain chemicals -- and the role they play in saving and accessing memories -- to find ways to help people better cope with one symptom of PTSD: the painful replay of traumatic memories.

The Chicago Tribune article, Drug Eases Pain of Bad Memories, updates us on progress in this somewhat controversial area; and we'll take a look at results of studies conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) on the role the brain plays in PTSD.

I've been contacted by Psychiatrist Robert M. Roerich, M.D. regarding the need for therapists, veterans, and police officers to participate in a controlled clinical trials study on the effects of senticon (mental imagery) therapy on PTSD.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

From the Senticon.us website:

Haunting memories, thoughts, or images are found in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a major mental health problem affecting millions worldwide. A new clinical trials study by mental imagery researcher Robert Roerich, M.D. seeks to explore the mind’s ability to heal memory of stressful life experiences.

Roerich has coined the term senticon for mental imagery. From the Latin “sentire”, meaning to feel and the Greek “icon”, a symbolic representation, this word encompasses all sensory perception, not just visual. PTSD is a whole body reaction that may include sound, smell, touch, and taste besides visual memory of the original trauma. “What appears to record the original trauma is the presence of strong emotion associated with a life threatening event,” Roerich states.

“The mind captures emotion as a primary reaction to severe stress. That is something no one has to think about beforehand, we feel it. A senticon is produced as a result, which serves a useful purpose in remembering what is threatening us, but can
by itself be painful over time if it persists in people who develop PTSD.”

“PTSD is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. Many people will not seek professional help because of the fear of being perceived as weak or psychotic. Only 5% of people see a psychiatrist out of fear of doing so, seeking instead to confide in friends, loved ones, or their family doctor.”

Roerich’s clinical trials study seeks police officers and veterans who are in therapy for PTSD. A new mental imagery treatment, Senticon Therapy, is being compared to whatever therapy the patient is receiving, with pre and post treatment testing to gauge severity of PTSD.

Protocal and eligibility information. Interested parties may contact:

Robert M. Roerich, M.D.
820 North Fourth Street, Suite 2
Steubenville, Ohio 43952
Phone: 740-283-4520
Fax: 740-283-3010

E-mail: roerich@senticon.us

A brief respite from my post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] series to call attention to a somewhat related piece of reporting appearing in Salon today.

More U.S. soldiers than ever are sustaining serious brain injuries in Iraq. But a significant number of them are being misdiagnosed, forced to wait for treatment or even being called liars by the Army.

Being called liars?!

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Mark Benjamin's Salon piece introduces us to 24-year old Spc. James Wilson. He's a proud soldier who's served two tours in Iraq - including heavy combat in the opening days of the invasion.

In the fall of 2004, his 1st Cavalry Division was mostly fighting in Sadr City, a volatile sector of Baghdad. On Sept. 6, Wilson was manning a .50-caliber machine gun atop a Humvee when a bomb or bombs went off directly under the vehicle, rocking his head forward and slamming it into the machine gun. A fellow soldier told Wilson that his Kevlar helmet had been split open by the impact. The heat from one blast felt like "a hair dryer" on his skin, multiplied "times 20," Wilson later wrote in his diary. To the best of his recollection, the force of the blast also knocked the gun from its mount, smashing it into his leg.

From all outward appearances, he miraculously survived the incident.

Two weeks later, however, he was on his way to Walter Reed Hospital; Wilson's dazed, light-headed symptoms had led Army medics to believe that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. But the medics turned out to be wrong.

Wilson's symptoms included:

• seizures
  
• short-term memory loss
  
• severe headaches with eye pain
  
• dizzy spells that lead to vomiting

The above symptoms it would seem (when coupled with the documented head injury he'd suffered during the attack) should have clearly been enough for the doctors at Walter Reed to diagnose a case of traumatic brain injury, right? Wrong. A visit to the Pentagon in which Wilson threw up all over Paul Wolfowitz' carpet apparently wasn't enough evidence, either.

Despite Wilson's description of his injury and his symptoms, Walter Reed officials repeatedly questioned his mental state and the authenticity of his combat story. In a June 2005 memorandum from an Army Physical Evaluation Board, some Walter Reed doctors stated that Wilson exhibited "conversion disorder with symptoms of traumatic brain injury." Conversion disorder holds that symptoms such as seizures arise from a psychological conflict rather than a physical disorder.

Col. James F. Babbitt, president of the Physical Evaluation Board, accused Wilson of being a liar. "I believe that the preponderance of the evidence available to the Board supports an alternative diagnosis ... one of malingering," Babbitt wrote in that memo.

Malingering?

Defined: Evading duty or work by pretending to be incapacitated.

Spc. Wilson and his wife, Heidi, weren't going to just roll over and take the malingering charge without a fight. They strongly opposed the diagnosis, and worked vehemently to get the proper medical treatment. The malingering charge also stung this proud veteran. "I want my dignity, pride and respect back," Wilson says. After serving his country, being accused of misleading doctors, he says, "is the worst thing in the world."

Is this the proper care that our soldiers should be receiving upon their return to us? A year spent dealing not only with physically debilitating symptoms, but with the added burden of fighting the very government that sent them to war?

On Dec. 19, 2005, more than a year after he was admitted, Walter Reed finally sent Wilson to a neurological center to be treated for traumatic brain injury. Neuropsychological testing done at Walter Reed on Oct. 11, 2005, led officials to conclude that "there was no indication of malingering."

According to a neurosurgeon with extensive experience treating combat head injuries, an October 2004 MRI of Wilson, combined with a description of his symptoms, showed that he should have been treated for a traumatic brain injury right then. Medical experts say the failure to treat a brain-injury victim promptly could hinder recovery.

Unfortunately, Wilson isn't the only one getting this type of `treatment'.

Salon conducted interviews with other soldiers suffering from brain injuries at Walter Reed. They are as frustrated and anguished by the delays and suggestions that their problems are a result of mental or hereditary illnesses.

Salon also interviewed military doctors and examined medical records and found Walter Reed is swamped with brain-injury cases. " [A] significant number of brain-injury patients are falling through the cracks from a lack of resources, know-how, and even blatant neglect."


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