Ptsd

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a lingering psychological response to a major traumatic event. And researchers studying the condition now have a clue about its development. Hint: Women and men are different. Their study, conducted in part at Emory University in Atlanta, was published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Researchers tested 64 people who had experienced significant trauma in noncombat settings. In women but not men, they found a link between PTSD and high levels of a hormone called pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide produced in response to stress.

WASHINGTON - Matt Pizzo has a law degree, can-do attitude, proven leadership skills, and expertise in communications and satellite technology from his four years in the Air Force. Yet the 29-year-old has been told that he's overqualified, too old, too "non-traditional," and that he's fallen behind his civilian contemporaries. "It was disheartening, to say the least," he said of his latest job rejection. "But it's typical, I'm afraid. " For unemployed veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, rejection is a special ordeal.

The hospital was built in the years after World War II. Its ceilings are low, corridors long and corners sharp — all possible stress triggers for those who have been in combat. Not to mention that a hospital waiting room can make anyone edgy. But the Veterans Affairs hospital in Fresno has found a way to make the experience easier: live music. A musician playing amid the hustle and bustle is familiar to anyone who has ever sat at a cafe with entertainment or taken the subway.

SEATTLE — In a move to improve treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder, the Army is discouraging the use of traditional definitions such as feelings of fear, helplessness and horror — symptoms that may not be in a trained warrior's vocabulary. It also is recommending against the use of anti-anxiety and antipsychotic medications for such combat stress in favor of more proven drugs. The changes are reflected in a new policy document released this month, one that reflects a growing understanding of the "occupational" nature of the condition for many troops.

SEATTLE — In a move to improve treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder, the Army is discouraging the use of traditional definitions such as feelings of fear, helplessness and horror — symptoms that may not be in a trained warrior's vocabulary. It also is recommending against the use of anti-anxiety and antipsychotic medications for such combat stress in favor of more proven drugs. The changes are reflected in a new policy document released this month, one that reflects a growing understanding of the "occupational" nature of the condition for many troops.

The Bullfrog Brewery is crowded for lunch and tables are scarce, but former Army Sgt. Angel Harris finds one where she can sit with her back to a wall and still see out a window. She isn't sure what she's watching for. A sniper maybe, or an ambush. This is downtown Williamsport — the Appalachian hamlet where Little League was born — not the sort of place where people wait around for something awful to happen. But that's the way Harris has viewed the world since she returned from Afghanistan eight years ago carrying her unborn son and a case of PTSD.

The head of the Army 's Madigan Healthcare System, one of the largest military hospitals on the West Coast, has been temporarily relieved of command amid an investigation over whether the Army has avoided diagnosing returning combat soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder to save money. Col. Dallas Homas, a West Point graduate has been administratively removed from his position near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, Army officials announced Monday. Homas had headed the busy medical center since March 2011.  Meanwhile, 14 soldiers who complained about their initial PTSD reviews were scheduled Tuesday to begin receiving the results of a new round of medical evaluations.

Michael Butcher has applied for at least 25 jobs since injuries he suffered in Iraq forced him to leave the Army three years ago. "I was even turned down by McDonald's," said the 29-year-old San Diego native. The military is known for developing leadership, adaptability, loyalty and teamwork. But Butcher said when he tells employers he needs time off to see therapists for post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury, they don't call back. "They think you are mental," he said.

Understandable sympathy for veterans traumatized by war is transforming the conduct of criminal trials. A recent story by Times staff writer David Zucchino reported that post-traumatic stress disorder is increasingly being cited by defense attorneys in arguing that a defendant lacked the intent necessary for conviction of most offenses. The implications for the criminal justice system are significant. Already, 170,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Reporting from San Diego -- The Pentagon is spending hundreds of millions of dollars searching for a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, the overarching term for the nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety and restlessness suffered by many troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly all of the dozens of research projects involve long-term counseling and prescription drugs. But researchers at the Naval Medical Center San Diego believe that something as seemingly simple as injections of an anesthetic given to women during childbirth may be effective in alleviating the symptoms associated with PTSD.

Just before noon on a December morning in 1988, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook over 40% of the territory of Armenia, centered in the northern city of Spitak. The temblor leveled entire towns and cities, killed an estimated 25,000 Armenians - two-thirds of them children trapped and crushed in their crumbling schools - and hastened the dissolution of the Soviet Union, of which Armenia was then a part. But the Spitak disaster was more than a geopolitical milestone. The earthquake was, in the words of one researcher, a "psychiatric calamity" that has yielded a trove of knowledge aboutpost-traumatic stress disorder.

Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have an increased risk of mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder . Now a new study finds these individuals are also more likely to receive opioid pain prescriptions and to misuse those drugs. The study , published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., creates a picture of escalating problems for veterans who come back from war with emotional and physical problems. The study examined 141,029 veterans of the recent wars after their return home.

The head of the Army 's Madigan Healthcare System, one of the largest military hospitals on the West Coast, has been temporarily relieved of command amid an investigation over whether the Army has avoided diagnosing returning combat soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder to save money. Col. Dallas Homas, a West Point graduate has been administratively removed from his position near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, Army officials announced Monday. Homas had headed the busy medical center since March 2011.  Meanwhile, 14 soldiers who complained about their initial PTSD reviews were scheduled Tuesday to begin receiving the results of a new round of medical evaluations.

The hospital was built in the years after World War II. Its ceilings are low, corridors long and corners sharp — all possible stress triggers for those who have been in combat. Not to mention that a hospital waiting room can make anyone edgy. But the Veterans Affairs hospital in Fresno has found a way to make the experience easier: live music. A musician playing amid the hustle and bustle is familiar to anyone who has ever sat at a cafe with entertainment or taken the subway.

Reporting from San Diego -- The Pentagon is spending hundreds of millions of dollars searching for a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, the overarching term for the nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety and restlessness suffered by many troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly all of the dozens of research projects involve long-term counseling and prescription drugs. But researchers at the Naval Medical Center San Diego believe that something as seemingly simple as injections of an anesthetic given to women during childbirth may be effective in alleviating the symptoms associated with PTSD.

Janeen Delany describes herself as an "old hippie" who's smoked plenty of marijuana. But she never really dabbled in hallucinogens -- until two years ago, at the age of 59. A diagnosis of incurable leukemia had knocked the optimism out of the retired plant nurserywoman living in Phoenix. So she signed up for a clinical trial to test whether psilocybin -- the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms" -- could help with depression or anxiety following a grim diagnosis. Delaney swallowed a blue capsule of psilocybin in a cozy office at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

WASHINGTON - Matt Pizzo has a law degree, can-do attitude, proven leadership skills, and expertise in communications and satellite technology from his four years in the Air Force. Yet the 29-year-old has been told that he's overqualified, too old, too "non-traditional," and that he's fallen behind his civilian contemporaries. "It was disheartening, to say the least," he said of his latest job rejection. "But it's typical, I'm afraid. " For unemployed veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, rejection is a special ordeal.

A new Department of Veterans Affairs policy that takes effect Tuesday aims to make it easier for veterans to receive benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder, a medically recognized condition in which symptoms include a lack of emotion, flashbacks and a bad temper. The VA simplified the claims process. How is the policy changing? Previously, noncombat veterans had to convince claims adjudicators that they were traumatized by a specific event with incident reports, statements from their peers or other evidence.

A federal appeals court Wednesday withdrew its May ruling that ordered sweeping reform of the Department of Veterans Affairs to care for those returning from combat with post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological injuries. The full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will reconsider the case brought by two veterans advocacy groups alleging systemic failures to treat mental health injuries and help lower a suicide rate that takes the lives of 6,500 former service members each year, according to court records.

Understandable sympathy for veterans traumatized by war is transforming the conduct of criminal trials. A recent story by Times staff writer David Zucchino reported that post-traumatic stress disorder is increasingly being cited by defense attorneys in arguing that a defendant lacked the intent necessary for conviction of most offenses. The implications for the criminal justice system are significant. Already, 170,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.