PTSD

Facial expressions convey strong cues for someone’s emotional state and the ability to interpret these cues is crucial in social interaction. This ability is known to be compromised in many psychiatric and neurological disorders, such as social anxiety or Korsakoff’s syndrome. New research has now revealed evidence that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is also characterized by changes in the way the brain processes specific emotions and that certain aspects of this disorder could be understood as a consequence of the altered processing of emotional cues. The findings are reported in the September 2011 issue of Elsevier’s Cortex.

Dr. Ervin Poljac from the International University of Sarajevo and the University of Leuven together with Dr. Barbara Montagne from the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre and Prof. Edward de Haan from the University of Amsterdam, investigated emotional processing in a group of war veterans with symptoms developed after prolonged exposure to combat-related traumatic events. PTSD is already known to be associated with difficulties in experiencing, identifying, and describing emotions, the new study however specifically examined the participants’ ability to recognize particular emotional facial expressions. Participants were shown short video clips of emotional faces representing one of the six basic emotions (happiness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust and sadness). Compared to healthy subjects, the participants with PTSD were less able to recognize two emotions in particular: fear and sadness.

This is the first study to show impairment in the processing of specific emotions in PTSD. Results could be helpful not only in providing further insights into this disorder, but also in the development of new ways of assessing PTSD and the development of more detailed prognostic models. At the same time these results can betaken into account when designing therapeutic interventions.

Source: Elsevier : Ervin Poljac, Barbara Montagne, Edward H.F. de Haan, “Reduced recognition of fear and sadness in post-traumatic stress disorder,” Cortex, Volume 47, Issue 8, Italy: Elsevier, September 2011.

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A new post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prediction tool, developed by Geisinger Health System researchers, is simple to administer and appears to outperform other screening methods, according to new findings published electronically in the August issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry.

After collecting information from more than 2,300 adults following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Joseph Boscarino, Ph.D., MPH, senior investigator II, Geisinger Health System, and his co-investigators, including Charles Figley, Ph.D., Tulane University, examined the clinical factors that could predict PTSD. These included stressor exposures, psychosocial resources, functional status, depression symptoms, suicidal thoughts, PTSD symptoms and demographics. This was done to identify the best PTSD prediction models. [continue reading…]

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Image Credit: Sep 05, 2008 – Garmsir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan – U.S. Marine JOSHUA WYCKA age 21who is part of Alpha Company of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Battle Landing Team (BLT) 1/6, after a patrol in Garmsir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan at Forward Operating Base Apache North. Located in Southern Helmand Province, Garmsir has been a haven for insurgents for the last several years. Earlier this year the Marines cleared the area after a period of heavy fighting. Joshua is from Plant City FL and has done a tour in Iraq in addition to this tour. More amazing photographs from Louise Palu (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/ZUMA Press)

An excellent article on the lingering post-traumatic stress of servicemen returning from the war in Afghanistan. I am overwhelmed with the powerful photograph of Joshua Wyka taken by photographer Louie Palu. My youngest son is 21 , and it is unimaginable for me to think of him being exposed to the horrors of war that Joshua has experienced.

Depending on the war, post-traumatic stress can have many expressions, but this war, because of its omnipresent suicide bombers and roadside explosives, seems to have disproportionately rendered its soldiers afraid of two things: driving and crowds. Movie theaters, subway cars, densely packed spaces—all can pose problems for soldiers, because marketplaces are frequent targets for explosions; so can any vehicle, because IEDs are this war’s lethal booby trap of choice. Booth manages his driving anxieties by leaving his Long Island home every morning at 4:30 a.m., when there’s no risk of traffic (especially under bridges, which militants in Iraq are always blowing up), and avoiding the right lane (in Afghanistan and Iraq, one generally drives in the middle of the road to avoid setting off IEDs). Once he gets to the city, Booth parks around the corner from his office and has managed to arrange his life so that he never encounters more than a handful of people. The only real logistical challenge is lunchtime, which he handles by ordering in, picking up from a grill across the street, or skipping entirely

Curious ? Continue reading

Source: New York Magazine

soldier

Almost a decade of war in the Middle East with its numerous deployments, the physical and emotional strain of combat and long periods of separation from loved ones has taken its toll. According to a recent study in the Archives of General Psychiatry, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rates now range between 20-30 percent for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A study led by PTSD researchers Barbara Rothbaum, PhD, ABPP, and Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD, and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is currently under way at Emory, testing the combination of the drug d-cycloserine (DCS) with virtual reality therapy to help alleviate the symptoms of PTSD. [continue reading…]