Post Traumatic Stress Disorder News and Research

RSS

Researchers examine brain networks involved in PTSD and TBI

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have devastating consequences. Both are associated with high rates of disability and suicide, and although they are separate conditions, they commonly co-occur. For example, a soldier who has developed PTSD as a result of a traumatic experience may have also sustained a brain injury during that experience.

23 Jul 2015

New assessment tool helps identify children and adolescents with bereavement disorder

Everybody grieves the death of a loved one, and the process helps most mourners adjust to their loss. "Charlie Brown was right," said Christopher Layne, a psychologist and researcher at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. "There is good grief." But for some people, bereavement becomes a problem in itself, prolonging suffering and impairing functioning. For grieving children and adolescents persistent complex bereavement disorder can derail social and academic development at a time when children and adolescents need to master skills and form aspirations to succeed later in life.

23 Jul 2015

Housing First approach helps reduce alcohol-related problems among homeless people with mental illness

A "Housing First" approach, where homeless people with mental illness are provided with a place to live without preconditions such as sobriety or seeing a psychiatrist, coupled with intensive case management, helps to reduce alcohol-related problems, a new study has found.

16 Jul 2015

New review article explains link between PTSD and increased cardiovascular disease risk

A growing number of patient studies show that people who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, including stroke and heart attack. A new review article in American Journal of Physiology—Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology examines the recent scientific literature to explain how the two are linked.

15 Jul 2015

Benzodiazepine drugs ineffective for PTSD and trauma treatment

Benzodiazepine drugs are widely used in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but available evidence suggests that they are not effective--and may even be harmful, concludes a systematic review and meta-analysis in the July Journal of Psychiatric Practice.

15 Jul 2015

Cognitive behavioral therapy effective for insomnia with psychiatric and medical conditions

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a widely used nonpharmacologic treatment for insomnia disorders and an analysis of the medical literature by sleep researchers at Rush University Medical Center suggests it also can work for patients whose insomnia is coupled with psychiatric and medical conditions, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

14 Jul 2015

New UCL research reveals how past events are reconstructed in the brain

When remembering something from our past, we often vividly re-experience the whole episode in which it occurred. New UCL research funded by the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust has now revealed how this might happen in the brain.

2 Jul 2015

Cortisol study may explain persistence of emotional memories occurring in anxiety, PTSD

The stress hormone cortisol strengthens memories of scary experiences. However, it is effective not only while the memory is being formed for the first time, but also later when people look back at an experience while the memory reconsolidates. This has been published by cognition psychologists from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in the journal "Neuropsychopharmacology".

2 Jul 2015

Comorbid anxiety ‘a crucial target’ for treatment in bipolar disorder

Almost half of patients with bipolar disorder will have comorbid anxiety disorder in their lifetime, show the findings of a systematic review and meta-analysis.

1 Jul 2015

Virtual human helps veterans with PTSD, people with mental illness build job interview skills

Finding a job is difficult for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and individuals with severe mental illness, who have high unemployment rates even though many want to work.

1 Jul 2015

Chronic disease, mental health issues affect low-income African-Americans, Latinos and Hispanics

Chronic disease and mental health issues disproportionately affect low-income African-Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two new studies by the UCLA Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities shed light on the causes and impacts of this disparity.

26 Jun 2015

Neuromodulator norepinephrine has direct action on auditory processing of complex signals

For neuroscientists studying the intricate mechanisms of hearing in the brain's auditory cortex, a major question has been how a listener can focus in a noisy environment, and how neurochemicals help neurons convey as much embedded information as possible for the rest of the brain to act on.

25 Jun 2015

'Virtual-reality' therapy can reduce people's craving for alcohol, new study suggests

A form of 'virtual-reality' therapy may help people with alcohol dependence reduce their craving for alcohol, a new study suggests. The findings, published in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, come from a small study of just 10 patients.

24 Jun 2015

Brain Injury Services of SWVA receives WWP grant to provide tele-health program for veterans with TBI

Brain Injury Services of SWVA has received a grant from Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) to provide a unique tele-health program, the Community Living Connection (CLiC) for veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI), to overcome the diverse challenges of the complex condition. WWP's Grant Program, now in its fourth year, is expanding the availability of programs and services that provide support to this generation of injured service members.

11 Jun 2015

Wounded Warrior Project initiates $100 million commitment to launch national medical care network

Wounded Warrior Project, a national nonprofit veterans service organization based in Jacksonville, Florida, has initiated a $100 million commitment to launch a first-of-its-kind national medical care network to connect wounded veterans and their families with world-class, individualized health care.

3 Jun 2015

Childhood trauma increases vulnerability to different health problems in later life

Long-term changes in immune function caused by childhood trauma could explain increased vulnerability to a range of health problems in later life, according to new research by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's College London and the NIHR Maudsley BRC.

3 Jun 2015

Strategy-based cognitive training improves cognitive, psychological health after traumatic brain injury

In the first study of its kind, veterans and civilians with traumatic brain injury showed improved cognitive performance and psychological and neural health following strategy-based cognitive training. The Department of Defense-funded study, published this week in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of cognitive neuroscientists, rehabilitation specialists, and neuroimaging experts from the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas.

29 May 2015

Brain & Behavior Research Foundation to award grants to 40 scientists for research into mental illness

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation today announced its 2015 Independent Investigator Grants which will award $3.9 million in funding to 40 mid-career scientists from 30 institutions in 16 countries.

14 May 2015

Study finds link between PTSD and accelerated aging

In recent years, public health concerns about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have risen significantly, driven in part by affected military veterans returning from conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. PTSD is associated with number of psychological maladies, among them chronic depression, anger, insomnia, eating disorders and substance abuse.

10 May 2015

Researchers report new primary care model to address trauma

Recognizing that patients' experiences of childhood and adult trauma are common and have a direct impact on their health, UCSF clinical researchers and Positive Women's Network-USA have developed and are reporting a new primary care model.

7 May 2015