PTSD, Trauma & Stress Disorders

When counseling trauma victims and patients with PTSD, do you ask them to retell the trauma or do you think this prolongs it?

Exposure-based therapies are highly effective for patients with anxiety disorders, to the extent that exposure should be considered a first-line, evidence-based treatment for such patients. In clinical practice, however, these treatments are underutilized, which highlights the need for additional dissemination and training.

Colonel David M. Benedek, MD-a psychiatrist-takes a brief look at the emotional fallout of war in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and points you to the "The Clinical Manual for Management of PTSD."

Members of the military returning from combat operations have high rates of substance abuse. They also often exhibit a co-occurring triad of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and pain, which complicates the problems with substance abuse.

This article, based on a comprehensive review by Weathers and associates, provides a selective and brief summary of trauma and PTSD assessments in adults.

Nada Stotland, MD, MPH briefly considers the psychological effects of abortion.

David Osser, MD, and his colleagues from Harvard Medical School summarize key aspects of the Psychopharmacology Algorithm for PTSD.

The New York Times of February 14 carries the disturbing news of an alarming increase in deaths from accidental overdose among our active duty military personnel and our war veterans.

In this blog, Dr Pols reviews The Politics of War Trauma: The Aftermath of World War II in Eleven European Countries, by Jolande Withuis and Annet Mooij (eds).

The Arizona Psychiatric Society and the American Psychiatric Association joined together to remember the victims of the Tuscon tragedy. The shooting left 6 dead and 14 others wounded, including US Rep Gabrielle Giffords, who lies in a medically induced coma recovering from a gunshot wound to the head.

Which treatment was found to be detrimental to patients with PTSD? What is the Brøset Violence Checklist used for? These questions and more in this week's quiz.

Every year, more than 1 million children are exposed to sexual or physical abuse or neglect in the US. The research summarized here clearly demonstrates that exposure to stress before adulthood can result in persistent effects on both mental and physical health.

The mental health implications of disasters on individuals and communities are enormous. Psychiatrists play a key role in helping to mitigate and lessen the traumatic burden and in fostering resiliency efforts.

The characteristics that bring people into the caring professions are, ironically, the very factors that make them vulnerable to vicarious trauma and job burnout. It is our responsibility to ensure that these adverse outcomes are minimized among those who have chosen such a career.

There are feasible and replicable ways for caring adults to help heal themselves as well as the next generation through mass application of reflection and altruistic caring for the remaining offspring, whether in Sichuan, Gaza, New Orleans, or Haiti.

The recent disaster that trapped 33 Chilean miners for the past 2 months piqued my curiosity as a psychiatric researcher: how will these hearty survivors cope with the aftermath of being buried alive?

Results from a study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology suggest that MDMA combined with psychotherapy may be a safe and effective treatment for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Any effort to develop a diagnostic manual for world-wide use must grapple with the question of cross-cultural applicability. The description and diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia must work as well in East Timor as in the US or France. In this piece I choose PTSD to show the complexity of the cultural issue for DSM-5.

The latest information released by the US Army reveals that last year American soldiers attempted suicide at the rate of about 5 /day. There were 160 successful suicides last year and during June the rate was 1/day. Military research has reported that one in 10 Iraq veterans may develop a severe case of PTSD.

In continuing efforts to help the overwhelming number of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD, the US Army is using therapy dogs.

By teaching those with PTSD to manage the stress and pain associated with the disorder's recurring horrors and disturbances, Edna Foa , MD has earned a spot on Time Magazine’s top 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

Positive results from a new study on the drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)--also known as ecstasy--may give new hope to returning war troops with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Neuroscientists are exploring ways to erase bad memories in patients who have experienced traumatic events. This possibility raises ethical concerns: Is it ethical to erase a memory or flashback and the feelings associated with that moment to alleviate suffering, or should clinicians focus on therapies such as CBT and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to help patients cope with a trauma?

When a soldier is killed while in the military service the President writes a condolence letter to the family. However, if a soldier is psychologically injured and then commits suicide, there is no Presidential letter of condolence.

Virtual reality (VR)-facilitated exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), recently evaluated under combat conditions in Iraq, appears to be safe and effective, according to LCDR Robert McLay, research director for mental health with the US Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD). Speaking at the 17th Annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality (MMVR-17) Conference in Long Beach, Calif, McLay said that military providers need to make PTSD treatments available in such military theaters as Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as stateside. (McLay was speaking as an individual, not as a US Navy or Department of Defense representative.)