Researchers Investigate Effect of PTSD on Brain Function

Researchers Investigate Effect of PTSD on Brain Function

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Police officers hold the second most stressful job (inner-city high school teacher is first), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This comes as no surprise to John Violanti, Ph.D., associate professor of social and preventive medicine in the University at Buffalo's School of Public Health and Health Professions and a former member of the New York State Police.

Violanti has conducted several studies on police health, and currently is principal investigator on a pilot study of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in police officers. The purpose of the study, funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), is to determine if symptoms of PTSD in police officers are associated with changes in brain structure and function. Violanti said data from the $26,000 pilot study will form the basis for a much larger project.

He will be working with colleagues in UB's Jacobs Neurological Institute (JNI), which is the Department of Neurology in the university's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and its Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC), taking advantage of the BNAC's advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) capabilities.

"Our aim is to assess the association of PTSD symptoms and changes in brain function and structure in police officers, a group routinely exposed to traumatic work situations," said Violanti.
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http://www.buffalo.edu/news/9014

This should be a great study but I hope they consider that looking at unpleasant images is not the same as living through the event itself.

As part of what I do, I have to look at these images all the time, to see what they see, in order to have a better understanding of part of their lives. Images of mangled bodies and the carnage the soldiers go through is unpleasant but it does not come anywhere close to being there in person.

Although this study involves police officers, again images are not the same as being there and knowing your life is on the line. They need to study veterans and police officers who have PTSD at the moment they are having flashbacks to get an accurate image of the changes their brains go through. These two groups experience trauma, just as all humans do, however they are also participants in them. For these two groups, it is not just having their own life on the line, it is taking another life as well. Their PTSD cuts deeper because of this.