Baylor researchers working to treat PTSD
Researchers from Baylor, Texas A&M and the US Department of Veteran Affairs are working together to treat and possibly prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the collaborators recently received $2.7 million from the federal
I keep hoping to read something inventive, something promising, something that gives one single indication the "researchers" have a clue what PTSD is. Every time it turns out to be a waste of time to read it. They keep going over things that have been done over to death for over 30 years! When will they really start to take a look at the people who have PTSD and take it from there?
Endeavors
Searching For The Source
Baylor researchers collaborate to treat-and possibly prevent-post-traumatic stress disorder.
By Franci Rogers
As an intern at a Veterans Affairs hospital seven years ago, Matthew Schobert encountered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for the first time.
A Vietnam veteran had been admitted to the hospital for a routine medication adjustment. Schobert recalls that the man exhibited some of the classic symptoms of the disorder: he was distant and reserved, and he chose to remain silent most of the time, especially about his time in combat. His case made an impression on Schobert, who was then a graduate student at Baylor University's School of Social Work, and sparked an interest in the mental health issues of those who have served in the military.
Schobert earned his Master of Social Work degree in 2002, in addition to his Master of Divinity degree from Truett Seminary (1999), and now works at the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center as a licensed clinical social worker in the acute psychiatric unit. He continues to see PTSD patients, including a new influx from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While Schobert sees veterans and active duty personnel with a variety of mental health issues, he often wonders about the causes of PTSD.
"I have some friends who have had three deployments, and they talk about the graphic and difficult things they've seen, but they are just fine," Schobert says. "And there are others who have been deployed once, but when they come back I see symptoms of PTSD and encourage them to talk to someone. It makes you wonder why."
Researchers at Baylor are hoping to help find that answer.
Investigating PTSD
Last fall, Baylor, Texas A&M University and the VA received a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materials Command to study PTSD. A portion of the three-year grant will fund research in neuroscience and computer science at Baylor.
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can occur after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Although many people associate PTSD with military combat, any kind of life-threatening event can create the trauma. Survivors of natural disasters (such as Hurricane Katrina), terrorist attacks (such as 9/11), and physical or sexual assaults can experience PTSD. Even witnesses to such events, such as first responders or military personnel, can develop PTSD. While it is natural to be stressed and anxious after a traumatic event, people who develop PTSD exhibit chronic symptoms which don't subside and begin to interfere with day-to-day life.
Those suffering from the disorder can exhibit a variety of symptoms. They may have flashbacks of the incident, become hyper-vigilant, suffer from social anxiety, be prone to impulsive behavior, avoid normal activities, be unable to sleep or eat, and/or suffer from depression. They are more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs, become unemployed and have marital problems.
The treatment for the disorder, according to the National Center for PTSD, can include psychotherapy (or talk therapy), medication or both. But it can be difficult to treat.
That's why Baylor researchers are excited about their work. Not only could their research help those already living with PTSD, but it could also help prevent it.
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http://www.baylormag.com/dept.php?id=000686
The rates of PTSD have always been one out of three. At least that was the rate from the last thirty years. Doesn't matter the source of the trauma but one thing that comes out more often is that people who are exposed to it more get hit harder by it.
Combat is number one. That's because they not only participate in it, they are exposed to it over and over again. It's not just once during a deployment, but many times. Redeployments increase the risk by 50%. This is why we have such high numbers in combat veterans, plus you also have the survival rate keeping more severely wounded alive.
Down the list you find police, firefighters and other emergency responders. Think of the traumatic events they are exposed to, again more than once. Some have their entire careers with one traumatic event after another.
Researchers have to be serious about all of this. Rats do not try to save lives. Rats do not bond to others, yet rats and animals they have been studying for years show trauma symptoms. That does not mean it's PTSD but it does mean it's animal instinct. Remember the Christmas tsunami and the reports of animals heading up to higher ground before it hit? They had elephants picking people up with their trunks and taking them to safer ground. Dogs have saved people. They use dogs to sense when a seizure is coming in epileptic people. Animals experience trauma but trauma does not hit all animals turning them into timid creatures. It makes some of them angry enough to kill. The day they can study a rat having a flashback is the day I give them credit for trying.
I've talked to these guys for 25 years. It comes down to this. There are three types of basic personalities. Selfish, sensitive and a mix of both. As with anything it depends on the degrees of the personality. The selfish will survive trauma, feel lucky like they deserved to live because they were born untouchable mattering more in the grand program than others. The mixed ones feel that way too but see a purpose in their survival and they go off to help the others. That is their focus, not themselves as much as what they can do.
The really sensitive people take it all in. They don't feel lucky to be alive as much as they are sickened by what happened. They want to help and usually do, but they feel it all in the walls of their soul. They take in the sites, sounds, smells and all are born within them. You don't want this kind of "birth pang" that's for sure.
They say that no one comes back from combat the same way and everyone is changed. That's true but no on comes out of any kind of trauma the same way. Life changes people. The next time "researchers" try to tell you that they found the answer to PTSD in rats, then they can figure out how to send them into combat and let them prove it.
Here is a case to point to.
A Mother's Mission
While serving in Iraq, Noah Pierce survived the bombs, the snipers, and countless encounters with the enemy.
But his family and friends say it was the guilt that finally overcame him.
"The demons and the pain...he's too sensitive," said his mother, Cheryl Softich. "He couldn't handle the innocents that were killed, the kids he got attached to. He was a good boy, he had a heart."
When Noah came home from Iraq in April of 2006, he was 22. He had served two tours of duty there; two years of his young life. He tried to readjust to life back in Eveleth. He went hunting with his step-dad, and partied with friends.
But it was difficult. Noah was depressed, he suffered from nightmares, and drank to get through the days. Doctors diagnosed him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. They recommended he get counseling. But he didn't go, instead spending much of his time convincing himself and others that he was getting better.go here for the rest
You can say that being sensitive makes them weak but it doesn't. It just makes them feel it all. They are not cowards or they wouldn't have joined. They are the kind of people who think they can make a difference and that's why they join. Talk about bravery! Wanting to change something like they are willing to go into takes either the most brave or the most foolish. The men and women who develop PTSD have it hit them because of what happened to them as well as what happened to others. Flashbacks when it is caused by combat trauma comes with the harm being done to others more often than the harm done to them.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
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