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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. Exposure to life threatening events, like war, can cause PTSD, and there are high rates among veterans. PSTD includes symptoms such as avoiding things or people that remind a person of the trauma, nightmares, difficulty with sleep, and mood problems.
From the many images sent home from foreign battlefields over the last several decades, Americans have viewed the plight of their country’s combat-weary veterans as stark and often iconic scenes that seem somehow frozen in time. But recent research at Washington State University (WSU) suggests that, for many U.S. veterans, combat is a defining experience that often sets the trajectory of the balance of their lives. The research is published in the August 2010 issue of the American Sociological Review (ASR).
Soldiers who receive traumatic brain injuries during war may be at a higher risk of epilepsy even decades after the brain injury occurred. The new research is published in the July 20, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Post-traumatic epilepsy is the most common cause of new-onset epilepsy in young adults with nearly 30,000 new cases per year in the United States.
Psychologists are not usually called to the battlefield, but the 2008-09 Gaza War gave Tel Aviv University researchers a unique picture of how anxiety manifests during stressful situations. In a new study in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Prof. Yair Bar Haim of TAU’s Department of Psychology reports that people confronted with acute stress – daily rocket attacks – tend to dissociate from threats instead of becoming more vigilant. This research overturns accepted convention and may lead to better understanding of the mechanisms underlying acute stress reactions, he says.
A United States Air Force suicide prevention program is associated with reduced suicide rates among Air Force personnel during times in which the program was rigorously implemented and monitored, according to an National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded study published online ahead of print May 13, 2010, in the American Journal of Public Health. The Air Force Suicide Prevention Program (AFSPP) was implemented in 1997.
The Army’s health-care system may soon see changes in how Soldiers are treated for pain, according to a report released by the Army’s surgeon general Wednesday which recommends 109 changes. The Pain Management Task Force’s final report, which was initiated by Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker in August of 2009, addresses the lack of a comprehensive pain-management strategy across the Army, and suggests alternative treatments to medication such as acupuncture, meditation, biofeedback, and yoga.
Focusing on certain post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms may be key to treating anger among Iraq/Afghanistan Veterans, according to a study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Veterans Affairs researchers.
The current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in extended and repeated combat-related deployments of U.S. military service members. While much has been reported about the problems, both physical and psychological, many bring back with them, new research out of UCLA shows that the family back home can have issues as well. The suddenly [...]
A leading scientific journal in Pakistan, The Journal of Management & Social Science,* recently published a paper titled “A New Role for the Military: Preventing Enemies from Arising-Reviving an Ancient Approach to Peace,” indicating that the military application of the Transcendental Meditation technique has merit. The paper discusses how militaries worldwide could use the Transcendental [...]
We recently alerted you to Eric Newhouse’s work to improve veterans’ access to much needed PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI) treatments, such as neurofeedback and cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES). New evidence emerged today that supports Newhouse’s claim that soldiers need better and easier access to treatments. A new study showed that although the Department [...]
Expect to see many more articles about on-going psychological/suicide research with the U.S. military in light of the recent Ft. Hood tragedy. Psychologists are especially trained and suited to play a primary role in helping our soldiers better cope with their often strenuous and demanding duties. We previously reported on psychological health and the U.S. [...]
The United States Army announced its plans to initiate psychological testing with all active duty, national guard, and reserve soldiers in an effort to identify those with possible mental health issues, as well as to strengthen psychological functioning among our brave warriors. A newly developed 170-item test that appears to have a biopsychosocial approach to [...]
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