Post Traumatic Stress Disorder News and Research

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Clinical psychologist to discuss stress disorder and soldiers in Iraq

Clinical psychologist Katherine T. Platoni, who is a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Service Corps, will discuss her experiences treating soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder during active combat in Iraq Thursday, April 26, at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

12 Apr 2007

New screening tool for anxiety disorders

A new study by researchers led by Kurt Kroenke, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. reports that nearly 20 percent of patients seen by primary care physicians have at least one anxiety disorder.

12 Mar 2007

President Bush appoints Dole, Shalala to lead panel examining veterans' care

President Bush during a speech before the American Legion on Tuesday named former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala as co-chairs of a commission that will examine the care that wounded veterans receive after they return from war, both at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and at other military hospitals across the nation, the Washington Post reports

8 Mar 2007

Whether torture is physical or mental the trauma is the same

In a study which has examined forms of ill treatment during captivity, researchers have found that psychological torment and humiliation can inflict as much terror and trauma as physical torture.

6 Mar 2007

Severe stress can damage a child's brain

According to researchers in the U.S. children who suffer severe stress may also suffer damage to their brains.

5 Mar 2007

Virtual Iraq to aid traumatised soldiers and military staff

The virtual Iraq simulation, developed at the University of Southern California (USC) but now being put into practice at Reading, is "fully-immersive" and designed as part of an exposure therapy programme which allows soldiers suffering post-traumatic stress disorder to relive and confront psychological trauma - and it has produced promising results for the first handful of patients treated.

1 Mar 2007

Mood changes in response to psychosocial stress in healthy young women: effects of pretreatment with Cortisol

German researchers have found additional evidence that the stress hormone cortisol can have positive effects in certain situations.

12 Feb 2007

Children with parents in the military have higher blood pressure

Researchers looked at 121 adolescents - including 48 with civilian parents, 20 with a parent deployed to Iraq and 53 with a parent in the military but not deployed - days after Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched in March 2003 and nearly three months later when President Bush announced major hostilities had ceased.

11 Feb 2007

Posttraumatic stress disorder may increase the risk of coronary heart disease in older men

A higher level of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder may increase the risk of coronary heart disease in older men, according to a report in the January issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

2 Jan 2007

Guanfacine no more effective than a placebo

Guanfacine, a medication commonly prescribed to alleviate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, is no more effective than a placebo, according to a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.

2 Dec 2006

Women are diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder more than men

Males experience more traumatic events on average than do females, yet females are more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to a review of 25 years of research reported in the November issue of Psychological Bulletin, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

20 Nov 2006

Distress, psychiatric syndromes, and impairment of function in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer

Almost half of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients are found to have clinically significant emotional distress or symptoms of psychiatric disorders before treatment is begun, according to a new study published in the December 15, 2006 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

13 Nov 2006

Chronic fatigue syndrome begins with childhood trauma and stress

According to the latest research traumatic events in childhood, and stress or emotional instability at any period in life, may be linked to the development of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

8 Nov 2006

How the brain resolves emotional conflict

Daily life requires that people cope with distracting emotions--from the basketball player who must make a crucial shot amidst a screaming crowd, to a salesman under pressure delivering an important pitch to a client.

21 Sep 2006

Lingering and longlasting effects of 9/11

According to a new report on the health effects of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, 70% of the rescue personnel and workers who responded to the disaster suffered from lung problems during and after the recovery efforts.

6 Sep 2006

Anticipation plays a powerful role in human memory

Psychologists have long known that memories of disturbing emotional events - such as an act of violence or the unexpected death of a loved one - are more vivid and deeply imprinted in the brain than mundane recollections of everyday matters.

4 Sep 2006

Discovery of molecular mechanism that maintains memories in the brain

In an article in Science magazine, they demonstrate that by inhibiting the molecule they can erase long-term memories, much as you might erase a computer disc.

31 Aug 2006

Severe mental illness in Gulf Coast doubled after Katrina

The rate of severe mental illness in the Gulf Coast region about doubled in the six months after Hurricane Katrina, according to a report surveying a sample of the storm's survivors published on Monday in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, USA Today reports (Sternberg, USA Today, 8/29).

30 Aug 2006

Treating battlefield injuries and pain in veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq

The August issue of Pain Medicine features two original research studies on treating pain in veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq.

15 Aug 2006

Long-reaching damage of the tsunami on mental health

The December 2004 tsunami which devastated the coastal areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and many other countries has left behind more than just untold damage to the environment, property and communities.

2 Aug 2006