Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) News and Research

Latest Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) News and Research

Mary Ann Liebert launches Brain Connectivity journal

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. announces the release of a new peer-reviewed journal in an expanding area of systems neuroscience, Brain Connectivity. This timely new journal is positioned to become the premier source of cutting-edge basic and clinical neuroscience research aimed at better understanding of structural and functional connections in the brain and how these connections are altered by neurological disorders.

29 Oct 2010

Study reveals clear difference between brain communication circuitry of PTSD sufferers and the healthy

US scientists have found a correlation between increased circuit activity in the right side of the brain and the suffering of involuntary flashbacks by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sufferers.

28 Oct 2010

Study finds online activities does not effect long-term psychological health

After the campus shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois University in 2008, hundreds of affected students turned to social media websites to share their grief and search for solace. A new study of these students found that their online activities neither helped nor harmed their long-term psychological health.

21 Oct 2010

First preventative approach to improve outcomes in traumatized children

After experiencing a potentially traumatic event - a car accident, a physical or sexual assault, a sports injury, witnessing violence - as many as 1 in 5 children will develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

30 Sep 2010

Study says PTSD veterans suffer from more medical conditions

Is the US health system comprehensively meeting the needs of returning veterans? With the recent attention to mental illness in returning soldiers, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in particular, little research has focused on the medical care needs of those returning from Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Dr. Susan Frayne, from the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University, and colleagues.

21 Sep 2010

Caregivers at higher risk for PTSD when cancer patients die in hospital

Cancer patients who die in the hospital or an intensive care unit have worse quality of life at the end-of-life, compared to patients who die at home with hospice services, and their caregivers are at higher risk for developing psychiatric illnesses during bereavement, according to a study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

16 Sep 2010

Study suggests PTSD symptoms common in Second Generation population

In groups with high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as the survivors of the Nazi Death Camps, the adjustment problems of their children, the so called "Second Generation", have received attention by researchers. Studies suggested that some symptoms or personality traits associated with PTSD may be more common in the Second Generation than the general population.

9 Sep 2010

Veterans with PTSD at greater risk for dementia

Results of a study reported in the September issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggest that Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a greater risk for dementia than Veterans without PTSD, even those who suffered traumatic injuries during combat.

31 Aug 2010

5 years after Katrina, Gulf area still struggles with access to quality health care, mental health counseling

"Finding quality health care continues to be a challenge in the New Orleans area. Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina flooded area hospitals, destroyed buildings and scattered patients. The health care industry has been slow to recover and in some cases, facilities still haven't opened. …

27 Aug 2010

Researchers assess long-term burden of PTSD in a region of Liberia

Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health assessed the geographical distribution of the long-term burden of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a region of Liberia and report that the prevalence of PTSD remains high nearly two decades after the principal conflict there and five years after war in Liberia ended entirely.

31 Jul 2010

Today's OpEds: The challenge of medicare spending; Two views of Massachussets; Regulating premiums

Health reform can be assessed from the perspective of four groups that collectively include most Americans. For those who are now in Medicaid or who are uninsured, reform will be a major gain. For those who obtain health insurance in the individual and small-group markets, reform should bring improvements. For those who have health insurance from midsize- and large-group insurers, reform will bring little change. Finally, for Medicare beneficiaries, reform promises to bring positive change.

23 Jul 2010

MDMA (Ecstasy) holds promise for chronic treatment-resistant PTSD

MDMA (-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as Ecstasy), may one day offer hope for individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), even people for whom other treatments have failed. Clinical trial results out today in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE, suggests that MDMA can be administered to subjects with PTSD without evidence of harm and could offer sufferers a vital window with reduced fear responses where psychotherapy can take effect.

20 Jul 2010

Columbia scientists discover new way to alleviate chronic pain

Columbia scientists working to combat injury-related depression, substance abuse and suicide due to unremitting, persistent pain may have discovered a new way of treating that pain: a powerful analgesic dubbed N60 that leads to neither tolerance nor addiction.

16 Jul 2010

Exposure to 9/11 can impact PTSD, depression levels among children

Two new longitudinal studies show that age played an important role in the effects of the September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks on New York City. Both studies appear in a special section on children and disaster in the July/August 2010 issue of the journal Child Development. In the first study, researchers found higher rates of clinically significant behavior problems among preschool children directly exposed to 9/11 in Lower Manhattan according to whether their mothers had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. In the second study, New York City adolescents and their mothers had generally elevated rates of PTSD and depression one year after 9/11. Direct exposure to the events of 9/11 played a small but significant role in explaining the severity of mental health symptoms.

15 Jul 2010

PTSD disability claims for veterans become easier with new VA regulations

While The American Legion welcomed new VA regulations that make it easier for veterans to claim disabilities from post-traumatic stress disorder, it also urged the agency to allow private practitioners to diagnose and treat the condition.

9 Jul 2010

Study finds maltreatment during childhood associated with mental health disorders in young adulthood

Abuse and neglect during childhood appear to be associated with increased rates of mood, anxiety and substance use disorders among young adults, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

6 Jul 2010

Dogs help soldiers recover from PTSD

The Army is using dogs "much more" to help soldiers recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to the Army Surgeon General's special assistant for mental health, Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, M.D., who spoke today at the annual convention of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

3 Jul 2010

Does too much texting puts teenagers at risk?

A seemingly harmless method of communication - text messaging on mobile phones could damage teenagers physically and psychologically a new study has revealed.

1 Jul 2010

CAMFT listed in 2010 Associations Advance America Honor Roll

The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists has been named to the 2010 Associations Advance America Honor Roll, a national awards competition sponsored by the American Society of Association Executives & The Center for Association Leadership, Washington, D.C.

16 Jun 2010

Combat in Iraq associated with post-deployment PTSD, depression in 8.5 to 14% of soldiers

Between 8.5 percent and 14 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq report serious functional impairment due to either posttraumatic stress disorder or depression, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

8 Jun 2010