Is Bad Research on PTSD Considered Fake News?

Bad Research on PTSD Continues
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 8, 2017

When we buy something to ingest, most products come with an expiration date to let us know when the good time has run out and it can make us sick if we use it. So why hasn't bad research ever included an expiration date? After all, the research on PTSD has been going on for over 40 years. Most of the "research" being done now has been repeated, dismissed or expanded on, yet reading most of the new research is more like reading a shampoo bottle with "wash, rinse and repeat."

The so called new or ground breaking research was washed out but if you are new to all of this, you were not warned about how long great research has sat on the shelf gathering dust. 

Congress has a habit of taking what they think is new and then fund it so they can appear to be informed but we've suffered for their lack of curiosity and inability to direct their staff to research the subject. In the case of veterans with PTSD, that neglect has been deadly while making the rest of us sick over the results.

In 1999 the Department of Veterans Affairs research put the number of veterans committing suicide at 20 a day. If you got up to page 18 on this report you'd find this chart.

If that number sounds familiar, it should. They came out with that same number in their latest report. What they did not say was back in 1999, there were over 5 million more veterans in the country.

When doing any kind of research, the findings should only be taken seriously if the previous research was actually reviewed.

I consider most of the reporting being done on PTSD fake news. This morning was one of those encounters with an article that made me want to go back into my bed and cover my head.

This was my first clue that this article should not be taken seriously.

"In earlier studies, Morozov and Wataru Ito - a research assistant professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute - investigated observational fear in a rodent model. They found that animals that witnessed stress in others, without experiencing any negative events themselves, displayed an increased fear response in other situations."

Rodents still being studied? Seriously? Ok, in the beginning when there were not enough people talking about having PTSD, that kind of made sense. But that need was obliterated about 40 years ago. With around 7 million Americans walking around with PTSD, you know, actual people they are supposedly trying to understand, the supply of human lab rats was readily available. Great researchers understood that way back then.

Simply observing fear in others changes brain connectivity
Medical News Today
Tim Newman
January 8, 2017

Research shows that it is not necessary to experience trauma directly to be affected by it. A recent study provides evidence that simply being around someone who has had a stressful experience can make changes to the way the brain processes information.

Research shows that observing other's stresses can change connectivity in the brain. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops in some people following a frightening, dangerous, or shocking event.

Although most people do not develop PTSD after such an experience, an estimated 7-8 percent of people in the United States will experience PTSD during their life.

Symptoms vary from individual to individual, but can include flashbacks, intrusive negative thoughts, avoiding places, events, or objects, and being easily startled.

Even if a specific event does not trigger PTSD at the time, it raises the chance of an individual developing it at a later date.
read more of this here.

Enough of that nonsense. Not living through an event/situation/circumstance, yet developing PTSD actually has a term and it is called Secondary PTSD.

This is from the Department of Veterans Affairs on how caregivers develop Secondary PTSD.

Partners of Veterans with PTSD: Research Findings

References

Calhoun, P. S., Beckham, J. C., & Bosworth, H. B. (2002). Caregiver burden and psychological distress in partners of Veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15, 205-212.

Jordan, B. K., Marmar, C. B., Fairbank, J. A., Schlenger, W. E., Kulka, R. A., Hough, R. L., et al. (1992). Problems in families of male Vietnam Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 916-926.

Kulka, R. A., Schlenger, W. E., Fairbank, J. A., Hough, R. L., Jordan, B. K., Marmar, C. R., et al. (1990). Trauma and the Vietnam War generation: Report of findings from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study. New York: Brunner/Mazel. Silverstein, R. F. (1996). Combat-related trauma as measured by ego developmental indices of defenses and identity achievement. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 157, 169-179.

Waysman, M., Mikulincer, M., Solomon, Z., & Weisenberg, M. (1993). Secondary traumatization among wives of posttraumatic combat Veterans: A family typology. Journal of Family Psychology, 7, 104-118.

Mikulincer, M., Florian, V., & Solomon, Z. (1995). Marital intimacy, family support, and secondary traumatization: A study of wives of Veterans with combat stress reaction. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 8, 203-213.

Riggs, D. S., Byrne, C. A., Weathers, F. W., & Litz, B. T. (1998). The quality of the intimate relationships of male Vietnam Veterans: Problems associated with posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 11, 87-101.

Carroll, E. M., Rueger, D. B., Foy, D. W., & Donahoe, C. P. (1985). Vietnam combat Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: Analysis of marital and cohabitating adjustment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 94, 329-337.

Cosgrove, D. J., Gordon, Z., Bernie, J. E., Hami, S., Montoya, D., Stein, M. B., et al. (2002). Sexual dysfunction in combat Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Urology, 60, 881-884.

Solomon, Z., Waysman, M., Avitzur, E., & Enoch, D. (1991). Psychiatric symptomatology among wives of soldiers following combat stress reaction: The role of the social network and marital relations. Anxiety Research, 4, 213-223

President's Commission on Mental Health. (1978). Mental health problems of Vietnam era Veterans (Vol. 3), pp. 1321-1328. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Byrne, C. A., & Riggs, D. S. (1996). The cycle of trauma: Relationship aggression in male Vietnam Veterans with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Violence and Victims, 11, 213-225.

Nelson, B. S., & Wright, D. W. (1996). Understanding and treating post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in female partners of Veterans with PTSD. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 22, 455-467.

Verbosky, S. J., & Ryan, D. A. (1988). Female partners of Vietnam Veterans: Stress by proximity. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 9, 95-104.

Williams, C. M., & Williams, T. (1987). Family therapy and Vietnam Veterans. In T. Williams (Ed.), Post-traumatic stress disorders: A handbook for clinicians (pp. 221-231). Cincinnati, Ohio: Disabled American Veterans.

Beckham, J. C., Lytle, B. L., & Feldman, M. E. (1996). Caregiver burden in partners of Vietnam War Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 1068-1072.

Ruscio, A. M., Weathers, F. W., King, L. A., & King, D. W. (2002). Male war-zone Veterans' perceived relationships with their children: The importance of emotional numbing. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15, 351-357.

Harris, M. J., & Fisher, B. S. (1985). Group therapy in the treatment of female partners of Vietnam Veterans. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 10, 44-50.

Williams, C. (1987). The veteran system with a focus on women partners. In T. Williams (Ed.), Post-traumatic stress disorders: A handbook for clinicians (pp. 169-192). Cincinnati, Ohio: Disabled American Veterans.

Johnson, S. M. (2002). Emotionally focused couple therapy with trauma survivors: Strengthening attachment bonds. New York: Guilford.

Monson, C.M., Guthrie, K.A., & Stevens, S. (2003) . Cognitive-behavioral couple's treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. Behavior Therapist, 26, 393-401.

This is about those who work with veterans or anyone else living with PTSD.

This is from 2007 article on counselors developing PTSD list of references at the bottom, indicating that this article is far from new research. I do not agree with the report itself because it dismisses what many experts have been proven right on. Treating people, not rats, for PTSD requires a triple play of treating their mind, their body and their spirit/soul. Leave one out and healing does not happen to the whole person.

Secondary Traumatic Stress, Compassion Fatigue and Counselor Spirituality: Implications for Counselors Working with Trauma

References

Athur, N.M. (1990). The assessment of burnout: A review of three inventories useful for research and counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 69, 186-189.

Chrestman, K.R. (1995). Secondary exposure to trauma and self reported distress among therapists. In B.H. Stamm (Ed.), Secondary traumatic stress: Self care issues for clinicians, researchers, and educators (pp. 29-36). Lutherville, MD: Sidran Press.

Cooper, A.E. (2003). An investigation of the relationships among spirituality, prayer, and meditation, and aspects of stress and coping. Dissertation Abstracts International (UMI no. 3084474).

Figley, C.R. (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. Bristol, PA: Brunner/Mazel.

Graham, S., Furr, S., Flowers, C. & Burke, M.T. (2001). Religion and spirituality in coping with stress [Electronic version]. Counseling and Values, 46(1), 2-14.

Koenig, H.G. (1999). The healing power of faith. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Morgan, H. (2004, June). Spiritual healing. Learning Disability Practice, 7(5), 8-9.

McCann, I.L. & Pearlman, L.A. (1990b). Vicarious traumatization: A framework for understanding the psychological effects of working with victims. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3, 131-149.

McCann, I.L. & Saakvitne, K.W. (1995). Treating therapists with vicarious traumatization and secondary traumatic stress disorders. In C.R. Figley (Ed.), Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized (pp. 150-177). New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Pearlman, L.A. & MacIan, P.S. (1995). Vicarious traumatization: An empirical study of the effects of trauma work on trauma therapists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 26, 558-565.

Pearlman, L.A. & Saakvitne, K.W. (1995). Treating therapists with vicarious traumatization and secondary traumatic stress disorders. In C.R. Figley (Ed.), Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized (pp. 150-177). New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Ryan, P.L. (1998). Spirituality among adult survivors of childhood violence: A literature Review [Electronic version]. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 30, 39-51.

Simpson, L. R. (2005). Level of Spirituality as a Predictor of the Occurrence of Compassion Fatigue among Counseling Professionals in Mississippi. University of Mississippi.