PTSD Gene Research Not New, Not Worth Repeating Either

The talk about PTSD in Marines having to do more with their genes is not a new study. While this study was very small, larger ones had been done over the years.

Keep in mind that PTSD research has been full swing (billions a year) for the last 40 years. In 2008 there was a larger study on genetic link to why some folks end up with PTSD but others seem to escape it.

Not sure how much they paid Emory University for this one but they found PTSD was caused by genes and the environment. This study was reported by the Times Online out of the UK

Genes, however, do not explain all the variability in people’s risk, and the precise genes and environmental factors that are involved have remained obscure. A study led by Kerry Ressler, of Emory University in Atlanta, examined the effects of a gene called FKBP5, which is involved in the way the body responds to stress. The DNA code of this gene varies at four points, which allowed the scientists to investigate whether any particular genetic profiles would either raise the risk of PTSD or protect against it.

As PTSD develops only when people have lived through traumatic events, Dr Ressler studied a group of 900 adults who lived in deprived urban communities and were likely to have had violent experiences of the sort that can provoke the disorder.

Army Times reported that PTSD caused the size of the hippocampus to shrink. That study came out in 2008. It was done by Brigham Young University

“The size reduction in the hippocampus seems to occur sometime after the initial exposure to stress or trauma in childhood, strengthening the argument that it has something to do with PTSD itself or the stress exposure,” said Dawson Hedges, an author in the study and a BYU neuroscientist.

Ok, so now it is easy to understand why it is to intolerable to discover yet again the web has trapped yet one more "study" as being the only thing worth repeating. Hell, they even repeat someone else who repeated it from CNN.

Is post-traumatic stress disorder in your genes?
By Sandee LaMotte, Special to CNN
March 12, 2015

"We'll draw the blood and have a way to do this very rapidly and start to tease apart who is a little more at risk and who is a little more resilient for PTSD," says principal investigator Dr. Dewleen Baker of the University of California-San Diego. "It's exciting."

What is wrong about this is, first, they just jump into military service avoiding all the other causes and cases experts have been researching for decades.

They also forgot to mention that it is never too late to get help for PTSD and Vietnam veterans have proven that.

What is really the kicker here aside from not mentioning how long they've been looking at the same research, this study they're all quoting came from this tiny group.

The researchers analyzed blood samples from 188 U.S. Marines, taken before and after deployment to conflict zones. They identified modules of co-regulated genes involved in innate immune response – the body’s first line of defense against pathogens – and interferon signaling, that were also associated with PTSD. Interferons are proteins released by host cells in response to the presence of pathogens and in this study are also shown to partake in the pathology PTSD.

Considering larger studies really didn't prove much at all this one doesn't even deserve mentioning but since everyone is, it is time for someone to step up and make some sense out of all this nonsense considering veterans already think there is something wrong with them and that's why they have it. Good Lord! Will folks ever understand they don't have to repeat everything they read?