The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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Nearly 1 in 5 Iraq Vets Reports Signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The first large-scale, nongovernmental assessment of the psychological needs of U.S. troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past six years finds that 20 percent of military troops who have returned from war—some 300,000 total—report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression. Slightly more than half have sought treatment, according to the study by Rand.

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Grieving kids may also have PTSD

ATHENS, Ga., April 10 (UPI) -- A University of Georgia study said children who have lost a parent to diseases such as cancer can suffer post-traumatic stress disorder.

Study co-author Rene Searles McClatchey said she found grief therapy to children whose parent died doesn't help if the post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms aren't dealt with first.

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PTSD Associated With More, Longer Hospitalizations, Study Shows

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have found post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with more hospitalizations, longer hospitalizations and greater mental healthcare utilization in urban primary care patients. These findings appear in the current issue of Medical Care.

PTSD Increases Hospitalization Rates in Urban Poor

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among poor, urban residents and those who suffer it have more and longer hospital stays, researchers here said.
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Army's New PTSD Treatments: Yoga, Reiki, 'Bioenergy'

The military is scrambling for new ways to treat the brain injuries and post-traumatic stress of troops returning home from war. And every kind of therapy -- no matter how far outside the accepted medical form -- is being considered. The Army just unveiled a $4 million program to investigate everything from "spiritual ministry, transcendental meditation, [and] yoga" to "bioenergies such as Qi gong, Reiki, [and] distant healing" to mend the psyches of wounded troops.
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Nurses Help Keep Patients From Experiencing the Nightmare That is PTSD

What is known is patients who develop PTSD after an ICU stay re-experience what they perceive to be horrific events long after the stress of the ICU experience are ovER.
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Does Writing Help Overcoming Traumatic Stress?

assignments have shown promising results in treating traumatic symptomatology. Yet no studies have compared their efficacy to the current treatment of choice, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).
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Substance Abusers With PTSD Face Poorer Outcomes

The researchers found that up to half of people who sought help for substance abuse disorders (SUDs) had PTSD and that having PTSD predicted a more severe course and worse outcome for an SUD, such as more family problems, less employment, and more serious psychological symptoms.
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A fifth of soldiers at PTSD risk

More than five years of recycling soldiers through Iraq and Afghanistan's battlefields is creating record levels of mental health problems, as about three in 10 GIs on their third tour admit emotional illnesses, according to an Army study released Thursday.
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Alpha Company hit hard by post-traumatic stres

Of all the things that Alpha Company has had to struggle with since it came home from Iraq, the most pervasive may be post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
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Poll: Many in college stressed by knowing soldiers in war zones

Half of the students surveyed said they personally know someone serving in Iraq or Afghanistan or who had been deployed there. Of that group, just over half said they had experienced stress because of the person's service, including nearly one in six who said it had caused them a lot of anxiety.
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Female veterans report more sexual, mental trauma

Even though she's been home from the war for more than 2½ years, she's now fighting another battle -- this one with depression, nightmares, sleeplessness and anger. She says all of it is caused by her time in Iraq.
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Does Writing Help Overcoming Traumatic Stress?

Writing assignments have shown promising results in treating traumatic symptomatology. Yet no studies have compared their efficacy to the current treatment of choice, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).
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The invisible wounds of the Iraq War

At night, he is haunted by nightmares and images of war. During the day, he has panic attacks and can't concentrate.
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Trauma, kidnap and death: all in a day's work for journalists in Iraq

Five years after the invasion, the former Times Baghdad correspondent reports on the war's uniquely grim toll on colleagues she worked with, and explains why they still take such enormous risks
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Suicides Seen Among Vets Treated By VA

CBS News has obtained never-before seen patient data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, detailing the growing number of suicide attempts among vets recently treated by the VA.

The data reveals a marked overall increase - from 462 attempts in 2000 to 790 in 2007.
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Does Stress Damage The Brain?

PTSD is associated with several abnormalities in brain structure and function.
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Genes and Post-Traumatic Stress

an individual's response to trauma — whether in battle, or as result of a natural disaster, a violent crime or some other horror — depends not only on the intensity of that trauma but also on a complex interplay of past experiences and genetic factors. A new paper, published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, provides remarkable support for this explanation and identifies a specific gene that influences susceptibility to PTSD.
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something pretty radical

Due to the lack of treatment options for PTSD, the US Army is now considering something pretty radical to treat the problem – ecstasy.
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Bullying a serious job hazard

The exhaustion led to anger, forgetfulness and numbness in his lips and fingers. A psychologist eventually diagnosed him with work-related post-traumatic stress disorder
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Does Stress Damage the Brain?

They found that the gray matter density of the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, an area of the brain involved in emotional functioning, was reduced in veterans with PTSD, but not in their twins who had not experienced combat. According to Dr. Pitman, “this finding supports the conclusion that the psychological stress resulting from the traumatic stressor may damage this brain region, with deleterious emotional consequences.”
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Post-traumatic stress disorder caused by both genes and environment

Both genetic and environmental factors affect people's risk of developing post-traumatic stress, according to new research that illustrates how nature and nurture combine to shape health and behaviour.
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Gene May Help Explain Stress Disorder

Groundbreaking research suggests genes help explain why some people can recover from a traumatic event while others suffer post-traumatic stress disorderLINK

Most N.Korean Refugees Suffer Stress Disorders: Report

Seventy-seven percent of North Korean refugees in China are found suffering stress disorders, an expert report says.
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Bad News on the Doorstep: Another Iraq Vet Suicide

"The issue of PTSD is worse than I have ever seen it, and I have been doing this for 20 years now."
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Testament of 'an honest man and a soldier'

Whether you call it battle fatigue, shell shock, PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) or OSI (operational stress injury), the mental trauma that can occur in conflict areas is still barely understood. It is often governed, particularly in the military, by ignorance and hidden by a culture of macho denial. Why some are affected, while others remain apparently uninjured, by the same circumstances remains largely a mystery.
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Partners of Veterans with PTSD: Caregiver Burden and Related Problems

A number of studies have found that veterans' PTSD symptoms can negatively impact family relationships and that family relationships may exacerbate or ameliorate a veteran's PTSD and comorbid conditions.
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Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Survivors May Suffer Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress

Patients who have been diagnosed and treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma may have symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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A personal land mine

She didn't dream her son would become a victim of the war the way he did -- not on a faraway battlefield like she feared, but like a growing number of veterans -- by his own hand once he made it home.
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A proud solider whose division captured Saddam Hussein, Michael Sherriff went into a tragic downward spiral after he returned home from Iraq four years ago.

It ended with his suicide Feb. 1 in Redding, where he had spent many of his younger years.

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A Helping Hand for Vets

Imagine you are a young soldier wounded in Iraq. Your physical injuries heal, but your mind remains tormented. You are flooded with memories of the bloody firefight you survived, you can't concentrate, and sudden noise makes you jump out of your skin.
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Shellshock and Redemption

Michele Barrett’s new work from Verso titled Casualty Figures takes a look at the lives of five men who fought for the British military in the First World War and suffered some form of shell shock.
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Researchers: Suicide seems linked to PTSD

As more veterans return home from the war, researchers are looking at the connection between PTSD and suicide.
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Here’s how to deal with the feeling of trauma after post-poll vio

What has not received as much media attention, however, is the emotional cost in terms of trauma and the likely consequences of the people’s experiences.
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Combat stress: A ticking time bomb

Around the world soldiers who fought and bled for their countries are returning home so traumatized by their experiences that they are unable to function as normal citizens. They suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD.
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Healing the psychological wounds of war

There is moaning, dying, screaming, moments out of hell. Mercifully, it ends. You get back in your car and drive home as though nothing unusual occurred. You do not talk about what happened because everyone wants to forget that it occurred. That is analogous to the experience of many Iraq combat veterans who are returning home.
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Art Therapy Shows Promise in Treatment of PTSD

Recent research involving children and adolescents with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) indicates that art therapy may be a promising treatment.
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Managing Your Distress in the Aftermath of Shooting

You may be struggling to understand how a shooting rampage could take place at a college campus and why such a terrible thing would happen.
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Virtual Reality Used to Treat Traumatized Vets

Academic researchers and military docs are developing virtual reality simulators with the hope of treating PTSD by exposing veterans to video game-like recreations of the kind of horrors they experienced in the war.
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Home from war, but no peace

Almost three years after an explosion ripped apart his leg and killed his best friend in Fallujah, Iraq, war still stirred
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Victims' families 'are neglected'

The families of murder victims are neglected and get a "woeful lack of care", according to new research.
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Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Is A Medical Warning Sign For Long-term Health Problems, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2008) — Geisinger research finds that veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are as likely to have long-term health problems as people with chronic disease risk factors such as an elevated white blood cell counts and biological signs and symptoms. However, few healthcare providers screen for PTSD in the same way as they screen for other chronic disease risk factors.
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Researchers say 2006 war left many children in targeted areas with emotional scars

BEIRUT: A new study issued on Wednesday showed that 14.4 percent of children and teenagers in South Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs suffered from war-related psychological symptoms after the summer 2006 war with Israel ended, adding that 15.4 percent of teenagers might suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders.
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Post Traumatic Stress Is a Risk Factor for Chronic Disease

Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are just as likely to have long term health problems as people with chronic disease risk factors like high white blood cell counts. However, very few healthcare providers screen PTSD patients for these biological markers.
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1983 Bushfire trauma lasting in children

"Out of about 600 that we managed to follow up, there were about 30 of them that were still having very high levels of distress
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after a crisis

FAQ’s for Business & Community Leaders

A Brief History of PTSD

A Brief History of PTSD

A brief history of stress

There is now evidence that points to abnormal stress responses as being involved in causing various diseases or conditions.
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History of Combat Trauma Bibliography

Posted by Robert Bateman on February 3, 2008 11:28 AM
The history of combat trauma is one which draws fire every time. It is a topic wrapped in politics, both conventional and those internal to both the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and history. I hope this brief annotated bibliography will help some come to understand the foundations, the arguments, and the various issues in play on this topic. This list is rank-ordered in what I believe is their utility to those interested in the study of war, particularly my fellow historians and journalists, but also my peers in the military.
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Bringing the war home

Eugene Cherry returned from Iraq with gruesome nightmares, thoughts of suicide and an explosive anger. Then his real trouble started.
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Private Battle

"You're scared all of the time,"
PART 1

"Once it took effect on me, everything snowballed downhill."
PART 2

"As it goes on, you hide and it gets worse,"
PART 3

Seeking out Social Support

There are several important pieces to a supportive relationship...
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US soldier suicides reach record number

The suicide rate among US soldiers has reached its highest level since records began almost 30 years ago, officials said.

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The Effects Of War

Almost half of the West Virginia soldiers returning from Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia have some form of behavioral or mental health issues.

That's the finding of a survey of a group of veterans detailed for state lawmakers at the State Capitol on Friday.

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Dogs chase nightmares of war away

Schaffer is one of a growing number of veterans with PTSD who are turning to an alternative therapy: psychiatric service dogs.

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War Concussions Linked to Stress

About one in six combat troops returning from Iraq have suffered at least one concussion in the war, injuries that, while fleeting, could heighten their risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers are reporting.

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Wounds of the mind and heart: Rescuing the child soldier

Wounds of the mind and heart can be as life threatening as a blow to the head or a stab wound but often go unseen or misdiagnosed.

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Soldiers Suffering from War: PTSD or Brain Injury?

An extensive study by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research concludes that PTSD and depression play a larger role than previously acknowledged in symptoms suffered by soldiers returning from war.

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More Veterans Returning Home With PTSD

One in six veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from the disorder and one in three show symptoms of the disorder, also known as PTSD, according to Murphy, an Iraq war veteran.

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In the New England Journal of Medicine Army doctors are reporting that concussions - from roadside bombs in many cases - increase chances that a vet will suffer post-traumatic stress disorder. At the same time, they write, psychological stress remains the primary reason for the disorder. The article’s primary point appears to be that PTSD treatment may suffice and be more effective for most vets than to try to zero in specifically on, and isolate, post-concussion effects.

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Brain Injury Linked To Traumatic Stress

(AP) Traumatic brain injury, described as the signature wound of the Iraq war, may be less to blame for soldiers' symptoms than doctors once thought, contends a provocative military study that suggests post-traumatic stress and depression often play a role.

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War Head Injuries: Long-Term Effects

they found that a remarkable one-sixth had suffered at least one concussion during their yearlong deployment — typically during combat or from a blast. These same soldiers turned out to be at higher risk for PTSD than those who hadn't had a concussion

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Treatment helps Ranger with PTSD rise above incident

"When you come back, you're either a workaholic or an alcoholic," he said. "If I wasn't working, I was drinking. It helps for the first couple of hours, but then it takes you back into that frame of mind you don't want to be in.
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Trauma of Iraq too real for vets

The Vietnam War ended with a pen stroke on Jan. 27, 1973.

Not everyone got the message. Many of the men and women who fought there, and who saw Americans die -- by the end, that figure climbed to 58,000 -- never quite left it behind.

"It's there every day," said Robert Johnson, who worked a door gun on a Marine Corps helicopter. "It's always been there. It's been there every day for a lot of years."

And now, with troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, even more of it comes back. The number of disability cases related to post-traumatic stress disorder has doubled since 2000, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The biggest spike came in 2003, when the Army's 3rd Infantry Division charged into Baghdad.

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Yoga Helps Vets with PTSD

WEST BOYLSTON, Mass. - January 11, 2007 - When you think of a U.S. Marine or Infantryman, your mind might not automatically turn to yoga. But a group of veterans from Central Massachusetts is turning to the ancient Hindu spiritual practice to cope with the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.

WBUR's Health and Science reporter Allan Coukell visited one session and has this report.

LINK TO REAL AUDIO

War Torn: The New York Times Series

PART I - Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles - LINK

PART III - In More Cases, Combat Trauma Is Taking the Stand - LINK

ON television 2007 was the year of the wounded.

The early, naïve expectations of easy victory in Iraq fell away soon after the invasion, but the full horror of the war’s collateral tragedies took time to sink in. more

Lawmakers, Advocates Call on Bush for 9/11 Health Funds

One in eight rescue workers enrolled in the World Trade Center health registry suffered from PTSD as a result of working at the site of the terrorist attacks, researchers concluded.
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Opinion: The State of the Wars, Military, and Veterans

The military is still overextended, and troops and veterans are exhibiting disturbing signs of breaking down, from the largest suicide rate in 20 years to delayed onset of PTSD, which are both related to the length and number of deployments.

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McCain Warns: "There Will Be Other Wars"

"And right now - we're gonna have a lot of PTSD [post traumatic stress disorder] to treat, my friends," he said.
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Anxiety, acute- and post-traumatic stress symptoms following involvement in traffic crashes.

Anxiety and traumatic stress symptoms are common post-crash. This study documents generalised anxiety responses post-crash, and examines the association between Acute Stress Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with personality and coping styles.
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Caring for Victims of Torture

Oftentimes when Mary Tornabene, RN, FNP, sees a patient for the first time, the entire visit and exam take place on the floor.

It's not that her facility lacks a proper exam table or chairs, instead Tornabene's unique patients are more comfortable on the ground — a cultural trait most Americans might consider peculiar.

But many of the foreign patients visiting Chicago's Rogers Park-based Marjorie Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture identify the floor as comfortable and safe, unlike an exam table, which might resemble the platform on which they were tortured.
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