Showing posts with label PTSD research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PTSD research. Show all posts

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Years of data suggest CBD could help mitigate PTSD complications

How CBD Could Improve PTSD Symptoms For First Responders And The Military

GUEST POST

John Mace Alois
February 26, 2020

Years of data suggest cannabidiol could help mitigate PTSD complications.

Taking care of your mental health can be a particularly challenging thing for current and former military personnel, as well as for many first responders. In fact, the vast majority of both groups report having experienced at least one traumatic event during their work. Things are so severe, some reports suggest a third of first responders have received a formal mental health diagnosis such as PTSD or depression.

Given how much our military and first responders put on the line for us every day, we owe it to them more than anyone to continually work toward new and more effective ways to mitigate their most challenging symptoms. While we still have a long way to go, the last 15 years of research has offered some significant steps forward.

Over the last couple of years, in particular, CBD has rapidly grown in popularity as a treatment option for those with a broad range of conditions. However, with so much talk about the power of CBD so fast, many pragmatic people have questioned whether it can actually produce the incredible things suggested.

That said, this growth in the CBD industry has, in large part, been spurred on by an explosion in peer-reviewed research. While CBD itself has been known for decades, it wasn’t all that long ago few people understood the potential it holds for those suffering.

What Is CBD Exactly?
CBD, otherwise known as cannabidiol, is a specific type of cannabinoid that is entirely non-psychoactive. Generally speaking, cannabinoids are compounds typically derived from cannabis plants that interact with a specific set of receptors found throughout the body and brain. This network of receptors is known as the endocannabinoid system and is only just starting to be studied closer to uncover potential health benefits.

One thing that has long impeded the progress of CBD research is its association with THC. After all, THC is extremely well-known for being the psychoactive substance in marijuana, which elicits a “high.” This connection with what was long seen as a detrimental substance prevented a lot of peer-reviewed research from being conducted in the past. Regardless, the last decade-plus of research has come a long way in proving the value of CBD therapy to improve the lives of those living with debilitating conditions, including PTSD.

Can CBD Mitigate PTSD Symptoms?
In addition to the growing movement of people who personally advocate for the power of CBD to improve PTSD symptoms, there has been a significant amount of research highlighting this powerful effect.

For instance, a 2012 report out of NYU looked into the impact of CBD on those dealing with long-term, fear-related stress disorders, such as PTSD. The team concluded cannabidiol was able to help regulate dysfunction in the CB1 receptor, leading to much more significant fear extinction over control groups.

Other studies, including one looking directly at first responders from the World Trade Center attacks, have backed up the belief CB1 receptor function plays a vital role in controlling PTSD complications. The team of researchers was not only able to show CB receptor dysfunction increased intensity of stress but also confirmed taking CBD could promote levels of 2-AG, a chemical associated with reduced stress responses.

Some research has positioned CBD as best used in conjunction with traditional behavioral treatments. As with many reports looking into CBD and PTSD, a 2014 study conducted by the University of Michigan suggests a CBD regimen could significantly improve fear extinction associated with anxiety disorders. However, the team also concluded the benefits provided by CBD would have the greatest impact alongside exposure-based treatment plans.

As for the specific mechanisms by which CBD improves PTSD symptoms, there is some early research out of the University of Sao Paulo providing some insight. The team of researchers has shown that CBD boosts hippocampal neurogenesis in mice models. This process is believed to be central to the ability of cannabidiol to decrease anxiety levels in those living with PTSD, even after exposure to a trigger.

Does CBD Work?
These couple of reports only begin to scratch the surface of the data highlighting what CBD could do for those living with PTSD. That’s not to mention the wider range of potential applications for this very well-tolerated natural medication.

Regardless, you should always consult with your doctor before starting any new regimen. Only they can ensure you avoid any conflicts with your current medications. Not only that but involving a trusted healthcare provider can be a massive part of crafting an effective treatment plan for you.

While there is no shortage of information out there on CBD, it can actually be way too much to handle. In fact, these days, it’s hard to know for sure if what you’re reading online is trustworthy or just another paid ad. That said, there’s a new site looking to unite real CBD users together to answer the simple question, did CBD work?

DidCBDWork.com is a totally crowd-sourced platform for discussion on CBD, offering not only somewhere to provide your experiences for others, but also quickly browse much of the peer-reviewed research out there on what CBD can do. You’ll find dedicated pages for a wide range of conditions research suggests cannabidiol could improve, such as PTSD.

Have you or someone you know used CBD to help improve their mental health? DidCBDWork.com is currently gathering experiences from millions of people, just like you, who have used CBD to help manage their overall mental wellbeing. No matter if CBD worked for you or not, they would love to hear from you about your experience; these stories help those suffering see that there may be a solution out there for them.

About The Author
John Mace Alois is the Digital Editor and Lead Content Creator of DidCBDWork.com, a crowdsourcing project looking to reach 1 million CBD users. A lifelong advocate for CBD and cannabis products, this Empire State native has spent the last several years using advocacy to sharpen his writing skills. He has written professionally for years and looks forward to using that skill to educate others. He can be reached at team@didcbdwork.com.

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Post Traumatic Stress and Dementia

Service and Sacrifice


WPSD NBC 6 News
Jennifer Horbelt, Michael Bradford
Feb 5, 2020
In patients like JJ, there's no way to definitively say PTSD is the cause, but researchers are starting to look for that link between mental health and the decline of brain function. In 2010, a National Center for Biotechnology Information study found veterans with PTSD were at a nearly two-fold higher risk of developing dementia. In 2018, another NCBI study went even further: "While causality cannot be determined, it is likely that PTSD and depressive disorders are related to an increased risk of dementia in military veterans."
PADUCAH — Trauma changes the brain. Studies show that the impacts of physical and mental trauma are measurable. In more recent years, research is starting to examine the long-term effects of post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Millions of veterans and their loved ones are personally invested in those results.

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 11-20% of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans live with PTSD. For Gulf War veterans, it's 12%. For Vietnam veterans, 30% brought PTSD home with them when their tour of duty ended.

James "JJ" Jernigan is one of them. In 2018, he was proudly taking part in the arrival of The Wall That Heals. In early January 2020, JJ was one of several veterans who received a Quilt of Valor in Paducah. JJ's wife, Sandy, spoke with us on camera that day. Click here to watch that story. JJ couldn't, because for the past year dementia has been stealing his memories and, many times, his ability to communicate. It's a price he may now be paying for his Service and Sacrifice.
read it here

But yet again, research on this connection was done a long time ago.

Vets with post-traumatic stress are at high risk of dementia, from USA Today 2009

Veterans with PTSD at greater risk for dementia on Medical Net 2010

Florida Today wrote about it in 2013 PTSD:Wars's lingering grip intensifies with dementia

You are getting the idea, but one of the most troubling ones was PTSD Meds May Increase Dementia Risk in 2017...but no sign any of these studies changed much at all considering what you just read!

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

PTSD therapies don’t help many military patients

VA, DoD recommended PTSD therapies don’t help many military patients, review finds


Marine Corps Times
Patricia Kime
February 4, 2020
Pfc. Linaeja White, a health care specialist with Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division Resolute Support Sustainment Brigade, scrunches up her face April 2, 2018, during a Mindfulness Monday class at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Therapies such as transcendental meditation have been found to be effective in treating PTSD. (Sgt. Elizabeth White/Army)

The psychotherapy approaches considered by the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense to be front-line treatments for military-related PTSD don’t work for up to two-thirds of patients, a new report published in JAMA Insights finds.

Cognitive processing therapy, or CPT, and prolonged exposure therapy, PE, are two approaches for treating post-traumatic stress disorder that focus on a patient’s traumatic experiences and helps them process the memories associated with the horrific events.

But a review of results from several large clinical studies conducted since 2015 on military personnel and veterans, researchers with New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine found these psychotherapies have limited success in these patients, despite recommendation as preferred treatments in the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder.

In fact, according to the review published Jan. 30 by JAMA, interventions that don’t focus on traumatic events, such as present-centered talk therapy, transcendental meditation and medication, seem to work about as well as emotionally charged PE and CPT.

“Overall, these new findings suggest that first-line psychotherapies do not effectively treat military-related PTSD in large proportions of patients and do not outperform non-trauma-focused interventions,” wrote lead author Maria Steenkamp, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Grossman.
read it here

It took them a while to report it...but glad they finally did!

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Researchers finally figured out "prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy" do not work?

First-line Psychotherapies for Military-Related PTSD


JAMA
Maria M. Steenkamp, PhD1; Brett T. Litz, PhD2,3; Charles R. Marmar, MD4
Published online January 30, 2020

Two well-established first-line cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), prolonged exposure therapy (PE) and cognitive processing therapy (CPT), are used in the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and US Department of Defense (DoD) based chiefly on good outcomes in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) with civilians. PE and CPT are manualized (ie, protocolized in a session-by-session manner) trauma-focused therapies that are based on processing the emotional and cognitive aspects of the traumatic event.

Consequently, these treatments are emotionally demanding for patients because PTSD is characterized by a strong motivation to avoid talking about the trauma and rekindling negative emotions associated with it. The prominence of PE and CPT in treating individuals with military-related PTSD has been increasingly challenged in recent years because RCTs of veterans and military personnel have yielded mixed results, with patients often not obtaining clinically meaningful symptom improvement.

These findings have led to questions about the extent to which these therapies should be prioritized and how military-related PTSD is best conceptualized, namely as a disorder that can be reliably managed by brief (approximately 12 session) monotherapies or as a highly complex and multiform condition requiring more individualized and comprehensive intervention.
read the report here


So they finally figure out they do not work? Now, will they focus on what does work?

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

‘Macho’ Identity worsened PTSD but no acknowledgment of training pushed on them?

Looks like researchers are catching up to Wounded Times on Combat PTSD...finally!


click the link and see what I mean.

The data analyzed went back 25 years, but no one seems to be able to explain why they still used Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which fueled the notion that if they were mentally tough enough, they could prevent PTSD.

‘Macho’ Identity Linked to More Severe PTSD in Vets


Psych Central
By Rick Nauert PhD
Associate News Editor
28 Jan 2020
“These values can promote self-confidence and skill-building in the field, but when a service member is confronted with physical or mental trauma, they can also contribute to more severe PTSD.”

Traumatic experiences, including combat and sexual trauma, can lead to feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness, both of which are in direct opposition to what society expects of men: That they should be strong and in control.

Military training includes learning to suppress emotion and the development of self-reliance. These skills are believed to help service members perform better in the field. New research suggests that when veterans return home, strict adherence to these traits can become detrimental, leading to more severe post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms that are more difficult to treat.

Researchers at Morehead University discovered that veterans with rigid adherence to traditional masculinity may be at increased risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, veterans “may have more severe PTSD symptoms and may be less likely to seek mental health treatment for PTSD,” said Elizabeth Neilson, Ph.D., the lead author on the study.

The research appears in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinities.

Neilson and her co-authors analyzed data from 17 studies, comprising more than 3,500 military veterans. The data, obtained over the last 25 years involved, at least in part, measuring the relationship between adherence to traditional masculine ideals and trauma-related symptoms.

The studies primarily focused on men, but one included both male and female participants. While most studies were conducted in the United States, the researchers also included studies from Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel and Vietnam.

“Overall, we found that strict adherence to masculine norms was associated with more severe PTSD symptoms in veterans, but more detailed analysis suggests that the association may specifically be caused by the veterans’ belief that they should control and restrict their emotions.

In other words, they should be tough,” Neilson said. This held true for both male and female veterans.
read it here

Monday, September 9, 2019

Who put the stigma on PTSD? Ignorant jerks!

Stupid stigma of PTSD is missing link


Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 9, 2019

When I first began to research PTSD, it was for very selfish reasons. I was falling in love with a Vietnam veteran. The more I learned about PTSD, the more I loved him. Simple as that.

That was 37 years ago, and we are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary this month. Anyone who still suggests that having PTSD is something to be ashamed of, remind them there is no shame in being a survivor.

Researchers in Colorado found that most veterans did not seek help for PTSD because of the stigma attached to it.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A new study released by the Colorado Health Institute last week focused on veterans and suicide, and why the rate in Colorado is higher than the nation's. The study found that nearly seven out of 10 veterans in Colorado who did not receive the mental health care they needed reported stigma-related reasons as a barrier. That's nearly double the percentage compared to non-veterans.

Who put the stigma there? Who gave it such great power that it can prevent veterans from asking for help?

The thing is, what works would work a lot better, if what failed was no longer allowed to get in the way.

While the Veterans Crisis Line has helped reduce the number of veterans completing suicide, it is an example of how bad it actually is for veterans.
Since its launch in 2007, the Veterans Crisis Line has answered more than 3.9 million calls and initiated the dispatch of emergency services to callers in crisis more than 119,000 times. The Veterans Crisis Line anonymous online chat service, added in 2009, has engaged in nearly 467,000 chats. In November 2011, the Veterans Crisis Line introduced a text messaging service to provide another way for Veterans to connect with confidential, round-the-clock support and since then has responded to nearly 123,000 texts.
If the VA Crisis Line was not there, the numbers we are seeing would be even higher. A lot of the programs the VA has work great, but the majority of veterans in this country do not use the VA for anything. Again, there is a stigma attached to that too. (see below) 

We know that suicide awareness does not work. 

Letting veterans know they are killing themselves makes no sense at all. If the goal is to educate the civilian community, again, it makes no sense since the number of civilians committing suicide has also increased. It seems to only benefit those doing the events to raise money and gain fame. How? Because according to the VA, the known number of veterans committing suicide has remained between 20 and 22 since 1999...when no one was making citizens aware it was happening and there were over 5 million more veterans alive at the time.

This stuff also gets in the way.


While we are trying to #breakthesilence to prevent suicide, it seems that some have embraced it.
Silent Watch Raises Awareness For Veteran Suicide

They want people to stand in silence for 15 minute shifts. Silence contributed to the end of those who lost hope.

With the VA Crisis Line being reached by almost 4 millions calls, now members of congress are pushing for a three digit number.
Advocates Hope For A 'Turning Point' In Suicide Prevention With 988 Crisis Hotline Number "Samaritans has one of three call centers in Massachusetts that receive calls from the national hotline, which can currently be accessed by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Samaritans also receives calls and texts from its own local hotline number, 1-877-870-HOPE (4673)."

Will it help? Maybe but as long as the stigma is there, it will not help as many as it could.

There needs to be a massive effort addressing the stigma itself, because if they actually understand what PTSD is, then the stigma dies...but they stay alive.

Most veterans do not understand that PTSD is not self-inflicted. It hit them! The only way to get PTSD is surviving something traumatic. The term itself means "after wound" and just a bonus reminder, trauma is Greek for wound.

As survivors, they already beat death once. More than likely they did not accomplish that on their own. They had help fighting that enemy and need help to fight this enemy too!

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

President Trump offered to negotiate for debunked nasal spray for PTSD

Struggling To Curb Veteran Suicide, VA Approves Costly Depression Drug Amid Accusations It’s Rushing The Process


Kaiser Health
June 24, 2019

The agency is racing to get the drug through the approval process after President Donald Trump signaled support for the treatment. But psychiatrists and medical researchers, including some at the VA, raised questions about the drug’s effectiveness and safety, and Democratic lawmakers question why the decision-making on the drug has been so rushed.

The New York Times: Veterans Agency To Offer New Depression Drug, Despite Cost And Safety Concerns Confronted by a rising rate of suicides in some groups of veterans., the Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday decided to approve the use of a new and costly depression drug, despite concerns among doctors and other experts about the drug’s effectiveness. The decision to endorse the drug — called Spravato, and manufactured by Janssen, a unit of Johnson and Johnson — came days after President Trump offered to negotiate a deal between the drug maker and the agency. Johnson and Johnson reportedly was working with associates at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, and the company has been supporting V.A. suicide-prevention efforts. (Carey and Steinhauer, 6/21)

Center For Public Integrity: Controversial J&J Drug Pushed By Trump Is Nixed From VA's Pharmacy List A Department of Veterans Affairs panel has pushed back against efforts to rush a controversial anti-depression drug into use for its patients, voting not to include the drug, Spravato, on its list of drugs available through prescription at its pharmacies. The VA had been racing to get Spravato ready for patients after President Trump, according to VA sources, urged the agency to buy the Johnson and Johnson drug for treatment-resistant depression. But psychiatrists and medical researchers, including some at the VA, have raised questions about the drug’s effectiveness and safety. (Cary, 6/21)
read more here


Sunday, June 23, 2019

Being exposed to the death and suffering of others tends to result in worse PTSD

For Veterans, Witnessing Suffering Can Mean Worse PTSD


PsychCentral
Traci Pedersen
Associate News Editor
June 23, 2019
“An example of witnessing might be that a suicide bomber triggers a bomb that hurts or kills children and civilians. Then our soldiers come in to clean up or secure the area after the bomb has gone off and experience the devastation,” said study author Andreas Espetvedt Nordstrand from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) Department of Psychology.

A study of Norwegian veterans who served in Afghanistan finds that being exposed to the death and suffering of others tends to result in worse symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than being put in life-threatening situations.

The study, published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology, is part of a comprehensive survey of how veterans are faring after the war in Afghanistan. Just over 7,000 Norwegian soldiers participated in the war in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2011, and 4,053 of them participated in this research.

Trauma is roughly divided into danger-based and non-danger-based stressors. Both types of stressors lead to an increase in PTSD, an anxiety disorder which can involve being hyper-alert, jumpy, sleeping poorly and reliving events after they’ve happened.

Danger-based trauma occurs when soldiers are exposed to trauma in classic military settings, such as being shot or ambushed. It is an active threat that is linked to anxiety.

Non-danger-based trauma is divided into two subgroups: Witnessing (seeing the suffering or death of others, without being in danger oneself) and moral challenges (seeing or performing an act that violates a person’s own moral beliefs).
read more here

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Same General Bull on stellate ganglion block

update:just found an old post on this and how they also found Bigfoot!

Medal of Honor recipient praises revolutionary neck injection treatment for PTSD


Military Times
By: J.D. Simkins
June 18, 2019
Two years later, the Army received a $2 million grant from the Department of Defense to begin a randomized, three-year study to test the effects of the treatment on a group of 240 veterans afflicted by PTSD
A patient is administered the SGB treatment by doctor and former Navy SEAL Sean Mulvaney. (Dr. Sean Mulvaney) A therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder that some doctors believe will “revolutionize the way PTSD is handled” was the subject of a recent “60 Minutes” report featuring a number of afflicted veterans, including one Medal of Honor recipient.

The breakthrough treatment, called stellate ganglion block, or SGB, has been shown to significantly diminish various symptoms of PTSD, such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

By injecting an anesthetic that numbs a bundle of nerves at the base of the neck, the SGB treatment dulls the area that serves as the body’s “fight or flight” response transmitter, providing instantaneous relief from some of the epidemic’s most chronic symptoms.

The shot, which was initially used to treat women experiencing menopausal hot flashes, is meticulously administered using ultrasound imagery to track the injection’s precision. Its results, meanwhile, are almost immediate and can last for months.

“I feel like a million pounds was taken off me,” Medal of Honor recipient and Marine veteran Dakota Meyer told “60 Minutes” immediately after being administered one of the shots.
read more here

First...this is not new, so the "revolutionary" claim is about as old as the actual Revolutionary war we had. This is just one more thing that proves when it comes to "prevention of suicides" and spending money, the tax payers have all been snookered!

Now, take a look at this piece of news


A nearly century-old anesthesia technique is showing promise as treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, relieving symptoms in 70 percent of combat veterans who received it once or more, according to a new review.

The therapy, stellate ganglion block, or SGB, quelled symptoms of PTSD, such as sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression, as measured by a checklist in nearly 100 service members suffering from combat-related stress within a week of treatment, according to the report published in October.

SGB involves injecting an anesthetic into a bundle of nerves — the stellate ganglion — that sits near the base of the neck.

In some cases, the shot, given under general anesthesia and guided to the exact spot by a physician using an ultrasound, gave instantaneous relief to patients with chronic PTSD symptoms, according to the review of cases published in the journal Military Medicine.

"Among patients with one-week followup (after injection), 78.6 percent of responders had an average reduction of their PTSD checklist score" of 22 points, the study noted.
That was reported on Military Times...in 2014!  If it worked...they would have been mass producing it!

Now, check this part out from the same article.


To date, Lipov has treated 40 military or veteran patients with PTSD, he said, largely financing the $1,000 cost per treatment through donations or out of his own pocket.The patients have paid for little besides a hotel room in Chicago for appointments, he said.

According to a new VA study of 60,000 post-9/11 veterans, 13.5 percent screened positive for PTSD.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

How are Manatee County’s 35,000 Veterans days?

University study that aims to identify well being of Manatee County veterans could be a game changer


Bradenton Herald
BY JAMES A. JONES JR.
November 03, 2018
“The Veterans Administration provides very generic data on a county level — age, gender and branch of service — but we know very little about their employment status, physical and mental health, education level, relationships or their living environments,” Hodges said in a press release.

MANATEE
Manatee County’s 35,000 veterans have an opportunity to anonymously participate in a first-of-its-kind study of their well being by the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.

An online survey recently went live, seeking information on veterans’ physical and mental health, employment history, relationships and lifestyle.

Vets will also be able to participate in study at Manatee County’s primary Veterans Day observance Sunday, Nov. 11, at Palmetto’s Lamb Park.

“The study should be completed by summer of 2019. We want to touch all the areas related to veterans. We will use it as a major tool for organizations to focus on the needs that veterans have,” said Carl Hunsinger, chairman of the Manatee County Veterans Council.

Collaborating on the USFSM study of veterans’ well being are Eric Hodges, a professor of interdisciplinary social science, Thomas Becker, a business professor, and Ramakrishna Govindu, an instructor of information systems and decision sciences.
read more here

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

MDMA, a psychedelic drug better known as ecstasy...again

Is there a researcher at the New York Times? If there is, please show reporters how to do it! It would really be more helpful to make sure that when things are done, and failed, they actually understand it did so for a reason!


First thing to notice, is the date of this article.
The Peace Drug
Washington Post
By Tom Shroder
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 25, 2007; Page W12

Post-traumatic stress disorder had destroyed Donna Kilgore's life. Then experimental therapy with MDMA, a psychedelic drug better known as ecstasy, showed her a way out. Was it a fluke -- or the future?

THE BED IS TILTING!

Or the couch, or whatever. A futon. Slanted.

She hadn't noticed it before, but now she can't stop noticing. Like the princess and the pea.

By objective measure, the tilt is negligible, a fraction of an inch, but she can't be fooled by appearances, not with the sleep mask on. In her inner darkness, the slight tilt magnifies, and suddenly she feels as if she might slide off, and that idea makes her giggle.

"I feel really, really weird," she says. "Crooked!"

Donna Kilgore laughs, a high-pitched sound that contains both thrill and anxiety. That she feels anything at all, anything other than the weighty, oppressive numbness that has filled her for 11 years, is enough in itself to make her giddy.

But there is something more at work inside her, something growing from the little white capsule she swallowed just minutes ago. She's subject No. 1 in a historic experiment, the first U.S. government-sanctioned research in two decades into the potential of psychedelic drugs to treat psychiatric disorders. This 2004 session in the office of a Charleston, S.C., psychiatrist is being recorded on audiocassettes, which Donna will later hand to a journalist.
read more here
Then consider all the years beyond that article on this drug, and all the years between then and now. What do we arrive at?

Almost the same article 11 years later on the New York Times!
Ecstasy as a Remedy for PTSD? You Probably Have Some Questions.
New York Times
By Dave Philipps
May 1, 2018

The drug known by the street names Ecstasy or Molly could be a promising treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a new study.

Research published Tuesday in the British journal The Lancet Psychiatry found that after two sessions of psychotherapy with the party drug, officially known as MDMA, a majority of 26 combat veterans and first-responders with chronic PTSD who had not been helped by traditional methods saw dramatic decreases in symptoms.

The improvements were so dramatic that 68 percent of the patients no longer met the clinical criteria for PTSD. Patients taking the drug also experienced “drastic” improvements in sleep and became more conscientious, according to the study.
read more here

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Navy researching surfing for PTSD, million dollar dud

When will they ever learn? Here goes another boatload of money on research for something they should already know helps veterans with PTSD.

What is even worse is, they should know that anything that helps calm down their bodies helps. That's right, anything!

Their suffering bodies are also part of what PTSD hits and they have to teach their bodies how to relax again. For some, it is music, art, meditation, martial arts, or even something as simple as taking a walk. In this story, it is getting on a surfboard.

Why is it that the military is so far behind on figuring all this out? After all, it is because of veterans coming home from war the results of traumatic events are understood. Those veterans came home over 40 years ago from Vietnam and they pushed for all the research done.

If any of these people in charge actually bothered to do some research on what has already been understood, we would have saved a lot more lives and a lot more money!


U.S. Navy study aims to see if surfing will help counteract PTSD
First Coast New
Janny Rodriguez
March 14, 2018

McCrossin said he struggled with survivor's guilt and he's still coping with his PTSD every day. Over time he found some relief in music and three years ago, he started surfing.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The U.S. Navy is spending $1 million on a three-year study that's aimed to find out whether or not surfing can counteract with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.

Disabled Navy vet and avid surfer, Bill McCrossin, told First Coast News he is excited about the study.

"I love waking up before the sun and loading up the car trying to throw this 9-foot board into the car and then going to the beach," McCrossin said. "I started finding that therapeutic."

McCrossin said he has PTSD from his four years in the Navy. He joined 2001 right out of high school.

"[PTSD is] a living hell," he said. He said he didn't know how to ask or get help.

"You don't know what it is you're trying to reach it for because you can't verbalize it because you don't know what it is," he said.
read more here

Saturday, January 27, 2018

World War I's shell shock is today's PTSD

VERHULST: World War I's shell shock is today's PTSD
Grand Haven Tribune
By Mike VerHulst
January 26, 2018

For as long as humans have walked this earth, there has been a risk that they would experience a traumatic event. For some, traumatic events create psychological effects that will last for months after the initial event.



Photo courtesy of TCHM
The "Courage Without Fear" exhibit is now on display at the Tri-Cities Historical Museum, 200 Washington Ave. in downtown Grand Haven.


Today, this is commonly referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 3.5 percent of adults in the U.S. will experience PTSD in a given year and 9 percent of people will develop it at some point in their life.

For those who have served in the armed forces, that number is even higher. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 10-18 percent of veterans who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan are likely to develop PTSD after coming home. For some, PTSD can lead to substance abuse or other issues. The good news is that veterans are now seeking care more than ever.

Earlier this month, the Tri-Cities Historical Museum opened a new exhibit titled “Courage Without Fear: The Red Arrow Division in World War I.” This new exhibit uses first-hand accounts to tell the stories of local soldiers who braved muddy trenches, attacks on machine gun nests and hours-long artillery barrages during the war. Men from the Tri-Cities saw combat in some of the most intense battles of late World War I, including the famous Meuse-Argonne offensive that sealed victory for the Allies.
In 1915, the British Army Council gave in to the doctors and public sentiment and officially declared shell shock as a wound.

Early on in the war, British doctors tried a variety of treatments, including hypnosis, in an attempt to keep as many soldiers on the front lines as possible. As the war dragged on, the British Army continued to change procedures for how doctors could diagnose and treat shell shock. By 1917, soldiers were treated by being assigned to a rearward trench where they could get a break from battle, sleep and eat in relative comfort. After a short break, they would return to the front. A full evacuation of a shell-shocked soldier was only considered if no improvement was seen after several weeks of treatment. This style of treatment was used until the end of the war in 1918 and was seen as effective by the medical community and the army alike.

Unfortunately, following World War I, there was a collective silence in regards to shell shock. Many of the survivors feared a rekindling of their symptoms if they discussed their war experiences. In the medical community, hardly anything was published on the causes of shell shock or ways to improve treatment. It wasn’t until decades later, in 1952, that “gross stress reaction” was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the 1970s, PTSD became the commonly accepted term.
read more here

Friday, January 26, 2018

Reporter failed to Google what he was told about PTSD by Army?

Reporter Should Know Before Listening
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 26, 2018

In keeping with holding reporters accountable for what they report, we have another example of a reporter failing the subjects. Just think, with all the stuff popping out, reporters get paid to do it?

Looks like the Jeremy Schwartz of American Statesman Staff decided to not even read the report they just released, or even ask any questions regarding proof of healing.

First, here are the numbers of soldiers reported as suicides by the Department of Defense.

In 2015, 120 Soldiers committed suicide and 55 Army Reservists and 104 Army National Guards.

In 2016, 130 Soldiers committed suicide and 41 Army Reservists and 109 Army National Guards.

Up to the first half of 2017, it was 55 Soldiers, 31 Army Reservists and 62 Army National Guards.

All in all, when you factor in the other thing the DOD said would also work, called "resilience" training, we see how this reported "progress" is repeating what has not worked.

This is the headline "New PTSD study shows recovery for Fort Hood soldiers in just two weeks"
Schwartz wrote,
"The study, the first-ever randomized clinical trial of prolonged exposure therapy with active-duty military personnel and the largest study yet of prolonged exposure therapy, was carried out by researchers affiliated with the STRONG STAR Consortium, a multi-institutional research network funded by the Defense Department aimed at researching combat-related PTSD treatments."
And in the next paragraph,

In 2016, STRONG STAR announced the results of another Fort Hood study that found 12 sessions of therapy led to PTSD recovery in 40 to 50 percent of soldiers. Instead of confronting traumatic memories directly as in prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy helps patients learn to think about their traumatic experiences in a clearer way, without “distorted thoughts” that perpetuate feelings of guilt, blame and anger, researchers said. 
Which is it? The first ever or the second one? 


What makes this even more frustrating is this piece of news that must have just been too hard to Google to know if he was told anything close to the truth.

This is from 2015 when a veteran had experienced this therapy. He should know because he is a veteran and had this therapy in 2013.
Trauma Post Trauma
The “gold standard” treatment for PTSD makes many vets’ symptoms even worse.
By David J. Morris
The problem with prolonged exposure is that it also has made a number of veterans violent, suicidal, and depressed, and it has a dropout rate that some researchers put at more than 50 percent, the highest dropout rate of any PTSD therapy that has been widely studied so far.
Perhaps a better example of how this does not work, is the research done in 2006 Do You Need To Talk About It? Prolonged Exposure for the Treatment of Chronic PTSD referencing the benefits along with the dates of how long this research has been studied. It goes back to the 90's. 

If it worked, then it would have worked and we would not have seen the results we have when the suicide rate of our veterans has gone up, along with the number of service members throughout all branches.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

UConn Messed Up PTSD Research

This started out to be a post about all the "awareness" being raised across the country. Stunning when you can see all of it just from the beginning of the year. What made this even more stunning was this "research" from University of Connecticut.
"In the survey, the average age of veterans was 35, and they had served in Iran, Afghanistan, and surrounding areas as part of Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn. Most of them—62 percent—served in the Army. Seventy-five percent reported exposure to combat."
Yes, you read "Iran" instead of Iraq.  Yes, you read they were only talking about this generation of War on Terror veterans.
"Younger veterans in their 20s, both male and female, reported much less suicide ideation than older vets in their 40s and 50s who completed the survey. Park suspects the finding may be due to the fact that many older veterans of recent conflicts were members of the National Guard or military reserves who were called into service." 
Yes, you just read they think younger veterans are not thinking about suicide as much as older veterans.

This is the part that got me...

Researchers found that veterans who had negative attitudes about religion and spirituality—meaning they felt God was punishing them or that God had abandoned them—were at significantly higher risk for suicide, even after accounting for depression and other variables.  
Interestingly, the researchers found that positive feelings about religion and spirituality—feelings that God is a partner in your life and someone you can turn to for guidance, support and strength—did not significantly reduce veterans’ suicide risk.  
"Most importantly, Park says, the study clearly showed that spiritual struggle among veterans is a separate and independent risk factor for suicide and not just a reflection of people’s depression."  
“This suggests that people are experiencing some profound spiritual struggle over and above any depression they might have,” says Park. “What people experience, what they do, and what they witness can have profound negative effects on them when they come back.” 
So which is it? 

Top that off with their other finding that,

"Among recently returned veterans, a new study says those who are married or living with a partner are at higher suicide risk than soldiers who are single, and older married female veterans are at the greatest risk."
read more here when you're done shaking your head...I need a drink! 

Monday, September 4, 2017

PTSD in Mind, Body, Spirit and Blood?

Alterations in blood-based miRNA in veterans affected with combat-related PTSD

Eurekalert.org
September 3, 2017


Individuals affected with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) demonstrate changes in microRNA (miRNA) molecules associated with gene regulation. A controlled study, involving military personnel on deployment to a combat zone in Afghanistan, provided evidence for the role of blood-based miRNAs as candidate biomarkers for symptoms of PTSD. This may offer an approach towards screening for symptoms of PTSD, and holds promise for understanding other trauma-related psychiatric disorders. Limitations of the study are that this was a small pilot study, and the findings need to be validated, extended and confirmed. First results will be presented at the ECNP conference in Paris.
PTSD is a psychiatric disorder which can manifest following exposure to a traumatic event, such as combat, assault or natural disaster. Among individuals exposed to traumatic events, only a minority of individuals will develop PTSD, while others will show resiliency. Little is known of the mechanisms behind these different responses. The last few years have seen much attention given to whether the modification and expression of genes - epigenetic modifications - might be involved. But there are several practical and ethical challenges in designing a research study on humans undergoing such experiences, meaning that designing relevant study approaches is difficult.
The research group from the Netherlands, worked with just over 1,000 Dutch soldiers and the Dutch Ministry of Defense to study changes in biology in relation to changes in presentations of symptoms of PTSD in soldiers who were deployed to combat zone in Afghanistan. In a longitudinal study they collected blood samples before deployment, as well as 6 months after deployment. Most of the soldiers had been exposed to trauma, and some of the soldiers had developed symptoms of PTSD.
For this pilot study, from the initial group, subgroups were selected of in total of 24 subjects; 8 of the soldiers had developed symptoms of PTSD; 8 had endorsed traumatic experiences but had not developed symptoms of PTSD; and another 8 had not been in serious traumatic circumstances and served as a control group. Using modern sequencing techniques, several types of miRNAs of which the blood levels differed between the groups were identified.


Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Researchers Still Stuck on Redoing PTSD Research?

Why do researchers fail to see what has been done before? When it comes to PTSD, after 35 years of tracking reports, I keep hoping, praying, they discover something new. I've seen too much suffering with this but as long as they keep redoing what has already been done, we may never see the day when they can cure it.

Take heart though, because you can live a better life and heal but researchers will never take it seriously since spirituality is nothing they can get billions to research.


PTSD may be physical and not only psychological Brain's emotional control center shown to be physically larger
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY
July 11, 2017

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The part of the brain that helps control emotion may be larger in people who develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after brain injury compared to those with a brain injury without PTSD, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's Sports Concussion Conference in Jacksonville, Fla., July 14 to 16, 2017.

"Many consider PTSD to be a psychological disorder, but our study found a key physical difference in the brains of military-trained individuals with brain injury and PTSD, specifically the size of the right amygdala," said Joel Pieper, MD, MS, of University of California, San Diego. "These findings have the potential to change the way we approach PTSD diagnosis and treatment."

In the brain there is a right and left amygdala. Together, they help control emotion, memories, and behavior. Research suggests the right amygdala controls fear and aversion to unpleasant stimuli.

For this study, researchers studied 89 current or former members of the military with mild traumatic brain injury. Using standard symptom scale ratings, 29 people were identified with significant PTSD. The rest had mild traumatic brain injury without PTSD.

The researchers used brain scans to measure the volume of various brain regions. The subjects with mild traumatic brain injury and PTSD had 6 percent overall larger amygdala volumes, particularly on the right side, compared to those with mild traumatic brain injury only.
read more here

The question is, why redo the same research? The following took about 3 minutes to find.

Amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and hippocampal function in PTSD

LM Shin, SL Rauch, RK Pitman - … of the New York Academy of …, 2006 - Wiley Online Library
Abstract: The last decade of neuroimaging research has yielded important information
concerning the structure, neurochemistry, and function of the amygdala, medial prefrontal
cortex, and hippocampus in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Neuroimaging research 

Noradrenergic signaling in the amygdala contributes to the reconsolidation of fear memory: treatment implications for PTSD.

J DebiecJE LeDoux - Annals of the New York Academy of …, 2006 - europepmc.org
Abstract Intrusive memories resulting from an emotional trauma are a defining feature of
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Existing studies demonstrate that an increase of
noradrenergic activity during a life-threatening event contributes to strengthening or" 

A meta-analysis of structural brain abnormalities in PTSD

A Karl, M Schaefer, LS Malta, D Dörfel… - Neuroscience & …, 2006 - Elsevier
... Received 20 October 2005, Revised 16 March 2006, Accepted 21 March 2006, Available online
26 May 2006. Abstract. ... Meta-analyses also found significantly smaller left amygdala volumes
in adults with PTSD compared to both healthy and trauma-exposed controls, and ...

Trauma modulates amygdala and medial prefrontal responses to consciously attended fear

LM WilliamsAH KempK Felmingham, M Barton… - Neuroimage, 2006 - Elsevier
... of Psychological Medicine, Western Clinical School, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia;
... Effective fear processing relies on the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex ... Post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with excessive amygdala and a lack of ...

Fear extinction in rats: implications for human brain imaging and anxiety disorders

MR Milad, SL Rauch, RK Pitman, GJ Quirk - Biological psychology, 2006 - Elsevier
... 7004, Ponce, Puerto Rico 00732. Accepted 4 December 2005, Available online 13 February
2006... be fundamental to elucidating the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders, such as PTSD,
and could ... A large body of evidence from rodent studies indicates that the amygdala plays a ...

[HTML] Resolving emotional conflict: a role for the rostral anterior cingulate cortex in modulating activity in the amygdala

A EtkinT Egner, DM Peraza, ER Kandel, J Hirsch - Neuron, 2006 - Elsevier
... conflict for the response to fearful versus happy faces (p = 0.51) or fear versus happy words (p =
0.76; Figure 3B). This is consistent with previous studies that have shown comparable amygdala
activations to fearful and happy facial expression (Fitzgerald et al., 2006 and Yang ...

A review of neuroimaging studies in PTSD: heterogeneity of response to symptom provocation

RA Lanius, R Bluhm, U Lanius, C Pain - Journal of psychiatric research, 2006 - Elsevier
... Volume 40, Issue 8, December 2006, Pages 709–729. Cover image Cover image. ... Liberzon et
al. (1999), SPECT, Combat-related sounds [white noise], Combat veterans PTSD [14], PTSD
group only showed activation in the left amygdaloid region, PTSD group had ...

Neuroimaging studies of emotional responses in PTSD

I Liberzon, B Martis - Annals of the New York Academy of …, 2006 - Wiley Online Library
... Search for more papers by this author. First published: 26 July 2006 Full publication ... suggest the
presence of hyperresponsivity of subcortical structures, specifically the amygdaloid region that
is ... of higher regulatory structures to modulate the activity of the amygdala and related ...

[HTML] Altered amygdala resting-state functional connectivity in post-traumatic stress disorder

CA RabinakM AngstadtRC Welsh… - Frontiers in …, 2011 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
... Patients with PTSD not only experience intense negative emotional reactions when reminded
of their trauma ... to fear-relevant probes and other abnormalities in a broad aberrant
amygdala-linked circuitry ... Rauch and Shin, 1997; Pitman et al., 2001; Nemeroff et al., 2006; Rauch ...

Clarifying the origin of biological abnormalities in PTSD through the study of identical twins discordant for combat exposure

RK Pitman, MW Gilbertson, TV Gurvits… - Annals of the New …, 2006 - Wiley Online Library
... Issue online: 26 July 2006; Version of record online: 26 July 2006... system: an initial analysis of
auditory response properties of neurons in the lateral amygdaloid nucleus and ... Amygdala central
nucleus lesions attenuate acoustic startle stimulus-evoked heart rate changes in rats. ...
AND 5 YEARS BEFORE THAT

Amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and hippocampal function in PTSD

LM Shin, SL Rauch, RK Pitman - … of the New York Academy of …, 2006 - Wiley Online Library
... 2001. Hippocampal inactivation disrupts contextual retrieval of fear memory after extinction. J.
Neurosci. ... 2004. Regional cerebral blood flow in amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex during
traumatic imagery in male and female Vietnam veterans with PTSD. Arch. Gen. ...

Investigating the pathogenesis of posttraumatic stress disorder with neuroimaging.

RK Pitman, LM Shin, SL Rauch - The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 2001 - psycnet.apa.org
... M.; Rauch, Scott L. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Vol 62(Suppl17), 2001, 47-54. ... PTSD, or
may be a consequence of traumatic exposure, PTSD, and/or PTSD sequelae ... measurement of
regional cerebral blood flow have shown greater activation of the amygdala and anterior ...

[HTML] Amygdala response to fearful faces in anxious and depressed children

KM Thomas, WC Drevets, RE Dahl… - Archives of general …, 2001 - jamanetwork.com
... PI Physiological evidence concerning importance of the amygdaloid nuclear region in the
integration of circulatory function and emotion in man. Science. 1954;120949- 950Article. 5. LaBar
KSGatenby JCGore JCLeDoux JEPhelps EA Human amygdala activation during ...

Relationship between acute morphine and the course of PTSD in children with burns

G Saxe, F Stoddard, D Courtney, K Cunningham… - Journal of the American …, 2001 - Elsevier
... the National Center for PTSD, Boston VA Medical Center. Accepted 22 March 2001, Available
online 4 ... exactly the levels that Pitman (1989) proposed as a potential preventive agent for PTSD...
attenuates noradrenergic activity at the level of the LC and, probably, at the amygdala...

Brain imaging in posttraumatic stress disorder.

G Villarreal, CY King - Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 2001 - europepmc.org
... your current search. Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry [2001, 6(2):131-145]. 2001/05. Type ...
studies document different patterns of limbic and paralimbic structure activation in PTSD compared
with ... of failure to activate the anterior cingulate as well as amygdala activation during ...

Longitudinal MRI study of hippocampal volume in trauma survivors with PTSD

O Bonne, D Brandes, A Gilboa… - American Journal of …, 2001 - Am Psychiatric Assoc
... Subcortical gray matter and limbic structures (septal area, hippocampus, and amygdala) show
an increase in volume until the third decade of ... 7, 2001... FW, Nagy LM, Kaloupek DG, Gusman
FD, Charney DS, Keane TM: The development of a clinician-administered PTSD scale. ...

[HTML] Regional cerebral blood flow in the amygdala and medial prefrontalcortex during traumatic imagery in male and female vietnam veterans with ptsd

LM Shin, SP Orr, MA Carson, SL Rauch… - Archives of general …, 2004 - jamanetwork.com
... 1996;53380- 387 PubMedArticle. 7. Shin LMMcNally RJKosslyn SMThompson WLRauch SLAlpert
NMMetzger LJLasko NBOrr SPPitman RK Regional cerebral blood flow during script-driven
imagery in childhoodsexual abuse–related PTSD: a PET ... 2001;1581920- 1922.

Disruption of reconsolidation but not consolidation of auditory fear conditioning by noradrenergic blockade in the amygdala

J DÄ™biecJE Ledoux - Neuroscience, 2004 - Elsevier
... Propranolol may therefore be effective in the treatment of PTSD, which appears to involve the
amygdala (Rauch et al ... National Institute for Mental Health grants R37 MH38774 and K05
MH067048, VolkswagenStiftung grant I/77376, and the HFS grant RGP0094/2001-B. ...

Memory processes in post-traumatic stress disorder

CR Brewin - International Review of Psychiatry, 2001 - Taylor & Francis
... and corticosterone and that the sympathetic nervous system, together with the amygdaloid
complex, constitute a ... on the neuroanatomy of pathways subserving fear and memory (see Brewin,
2001, for a ... It is now thought that the amygdala is a key structure responsible for the ...

Corticotropin-releasing hormone in depression and post-traumatic stress disorder

JW Kasckow, D Baker, TD Geracioti - Peptides, 2001 - Elsevier
... 28 June 2000, Accepted 22 November 2000, Available online 30 April 2001... of restraint stress
in rats increases CRH messenger RNA expression in the amygdala... Post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) is a syndrome whose development is intrinsically related to the experience ...

AND 5 YEARS BEFORE THAT

[HTML] Response and habituation of the human amygdala during visual processing of facial expression

HC Breiter, NL Etcoff, PJ Whalen, WA Kennedy… - Neuron, 1996 - Elsevier
... emotional expression (see Figure 1). Based upon human lesion data, we hypothesized that,
compared with neutral faces, fearful faces would induce increased activity within the amygdala
(1, 2 and 16), while happy faces would induce no amygdala activation (Calder et al. 1996 ...

Neuroimaging findings in post-traumatic stress disorder

AM Hull - The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2002 - RCP
... the wide-ranging neurobiological changes in trauma survivors who develop post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). ... functional and structural neuroimaging studies of subjects with PTSD was carried ...
functional changes include increased activation of the amygdala after symptom ...

Why stress is bad for your brain

RM Sapolsky - Science, 1996 - go.galegroup.com
... showed hippocampal atrophy after correction for whole-brain volume, with no atrophy in the
amygdala... Finally PTSD individuals, before joining the military, had high rates of learning disorders
and delayed developmental landmarks that could reflect cerebral ... 16, 3534 (1996). ...

Disruption of reconsolidation but not consolidation of auditory fear conditioning by noradrenergic blockade in the amygdala

J DÄ™biecJE Ledoux - Neuroscience, 2004 - Elsevier
... amygdala. Propranolol may therefore be effective in the treatment of PTSD, which
appears to involve the amygdala (Rauch et al., 1996; Shin et al., 2004), even
after symptoms have developed. Acknowledgments. We ...

Magnetic resonance imaging study of hippocampal volume in chronic, combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder

TV Gurvits, ME Shenton, H Hokama, H Ohta… - Biological …, 1996 - Elsevier
... Received 31 October 1995, Revised 8 April 1996, Available online 22 March 1999. ... The
development of a clinician-administered PTSD scale. J Traumatic Stress, 8 (1995), pp. 75–90. ...
Hippocampus-amygdala volumes and psychopathology in chronic schizophrenia. ...

Topiramate attenuates exaggerated acoustic startle in an animal model of PTSD

S Khan, I Liberzon - Psychopharmacology, 2004 - Springer
... acoustic startle is a highly prevalent behavioral symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
(Shalev et ... When administered into the basolateral amygdala, it attenuates both phenomena
(Walker ... kindling properties in rodent models (Wauquier and Zhou 1996) and produces ...

Exaggerated amygdala response to masked facial stimuli in posttraumatic stress disorder: a functional MRI study

SL RauchPJ Whalen, LM Shin, SC McInerney… - Biological …, 2000 - Elsevier
... employing overt presentation of emotional faces do (eg, Morris et al 1996). ... Because we predicted
amygdala activation to the present experimental manipulation, our a priori significance ... level based
on the approximately 76 voxels that make up the amygdaloid region (Filipek et ...

Functional connectivity of the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala in posttraumatic stress disorder

A GilboaAY Shalev, L Laor, H Lester, Y Louzoun… - Biological …, 2004 - Elsevier
... Animal research shows that the amygdala is crucial in encoding and retrieval of conditioned fearful
memories Armony and LeDoux, 1997 and Grillon et al., 1996Amygdala hyperactivity in human
PTSD was observed in some neuroimaging studies Liberzon et al., 1999, Pissiota ...

Amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and hippocampal function in PTSD

LM Shin, SL Rauch, RK Pitman - … of the New York Academy of …, 2006 - Wiley Online Library
... al . 1996. A symptom ... Carson, et al . 2004. Regional cerebral blood flow in amygdala
and medial prefrontal cortex during traumatic imagery in male and female Vietnam
veterans with PTSD. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 61: 168–176. ...