PTSD in the News: Monthly Roundup for May

We’re doing things a little differently this month, all with you — the reader in mind! We will post daily newsworthy items and then at the end of the month choose our top 10 for the month of May! Check back everyday to see PTSD in the News! Our new “news” items will be highlighted in green and bold with a “NEW!” in front of it.  For new military items, scroll down, and they will be highlighted in the same way! We hope you are enjoying the new format.

PTSD in the News

Anxiety Disorders May Boost Heart Attack Risk:  Adding to evidence that mental health conditions may affect heart health, a new study finds that veterans with anxiety disorders have an increased risk of heart attack.

DoD Health Affairs: High Marks but Improvement Needed: Former Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) S. Ward Casscells III gave a report card of sorts for the former agency he headed before retirement in a recent talk: High marks in some key areas but improvement needed in preventing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among military service members. 

Time to Reform the Law on Rape: Rape is not just another crime. Lisak D and Roth S (1988) in a research entitled ‘Motivational factors in non-incarcerated sexually aggressive men’, which was carried out among convicted rapists found that having anger at women and having the need to control or dominate them was one of their major motivational factors.

Crash Survivors Need Counselling As They Can End Up with PTSD, Say Docs:  While they are thankful to be alive and breathing, while most of those travelling with them in the ill-fated Flight IX-812 perished, those who lived through the nerve-wracking morning of Saturday, May 22 are suffering from trauma arising out of being exposed to a highly stressful situation.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Conference: Flashbacks, nightmares, the shakes….years ago they called it shell shock or battle fatigue, today they call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD and it’s affecting thousands of veterans returning home from war.

PTSD Diagnosis a Moving Target:  Criteria for diagnosing the disorder has changed repeatedly. How is post-traumatic stress disorder defined today, and why has it been a moving target? When the American Psychiatric Association published its first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1952, what we now know as PTSD was called “stress response syndrome.” It wasn’t until 1980 that the organization officially added the term PTSD to the psychiatric lexicon.’

Genetic Changes Show Up in People with PTSD:  People with post-traumatic stress disorder seem to accumulate an array of genetic changes different from those found in healthy people, researchers report online May 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

PTSD diagnosis could appear on Georgia driver’s licenses: Current and former servicemembers living in Georgia could soon add a new piece of information to their driver’s license: a PTSD diagnosis.

Traumatized Survivors Need More Than Hugs: If the Yushu earthquake victims are somehow luckier than those who lost their home two years ago during Wenchuan earthquake, it may be because of their faith.

Hope and Healing After Sexual Trauma: One in six women in America will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Anita Wooldridge is one of them.

MILITARY NEWS

SF Clinic Treats War Stress in a New Way: The soldier didn’t want to be there. “I had a fight with my girlfriend,” he told Dr. Karen Seal at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. “She thinks I’m different since I got back from Iraq. She says I scream in my sleep.”

An Understanding Bunch: Some Clinic PTSD Volunteers Have Been There: There’s a saying that’s invoked on a regular basis at the post traumatic stress disorder clinic at the Batavia VA Medical Center. “Seek understanding, not blame,” said clinical psychologist Paul J. Harrigan.

Program Aids Emotionally Suffering Vets: Combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have many resources available to heal the wounds of war, but the pain can linger in the form of emotionally crippling memories.

PTSD May Raise Diabetes Risk in Service Members:  Military service members with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to develop diabetes than their counterparts without PTSD symptoms, results of a new study hint.

A Revolution in War Stress Solutions: TWO shocking stories this week highlighted the struggle many of our brave Forces’ personnel face AFTER they leave the battlefield – but revolutionary help is at hand.

Television Review: ‘The Wounded Platoon’ — The Human Cost of Combat Can Come Due at Home: “The Wounded Platoon” opens with the death of an American soldier. He had been to Iraq, but he didn’t die there. That soldier, Specialist Kevin Shields, survived combat only to be killed in Colorado Springs after a night of drinking with three Army buddies, who are all now serving prison sentences for his murder.

Avatar Teaches Social Workers How to Talk With Iraq and Afghanistan Vets: Lieutenant Rocco’s recently returned from deployment in Iraq and he’s having trouble acclimating. He sits near the edge of a sofa in his social worker’s office, still dressed in fatigues, and sporting a buzz cut. Even though he says he’s okay, he admits to getting flack from his boss about his lack of productivity and that he’s arguing with his wife. “There are things I don’t want to talk about with her. Things I can’t get out of my head,” he says.

Suicide Prevention Bill a Tribute to Local Veteran: After two combat tours in Iraq, Coleman Bean of East Brunswick sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder Sgt. Coleman Bean PTSD), but he did not receive the support that is in place for many returning veterans.

Adam Burke and WVFV Start “Project Blueberry” Program: Work Vessels for Vets (WVFV) began in Noank and its mission is to assist veterans returning to the U.S. as they begin their civilian careers or continue educational pursuits.  

Pentagon Tries Aroma Therapy to Ease Combat Stress:  The U.S. military is experimenting with aroma therapy, acupuncture and other unorthodox methods to treat soldiers traumatized by combat experiences, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Saturday.

Photo acknowledgement on CMCH

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