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Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015

Scientists shocked by PTSD discovery

Author:     Dan Taylor
Source:     BABW News
Publication Date:     December 20, 2015
Link: Scientists shocked by PTSD discovery
Stephan:   If you have ever had a friend contract PTSD, you know how insidious and devastating this trauma disorder can be. I have  friends from Viet Nam who still deal with it almost half a century later, and it was clear this was true after World Wars I and II. Why? Probably because no one wanted to acknowledge it, particularly politicians. If they did they would have to take care of these men and women for the rest of their lives, and they didn't want to spend the money. And many still don't. But as this report describes, the evidence is overwhelming that this is an ongooing problem, and so is the ethical responsibility to care for these veterans. War in the age of climate change, where inconceivable sums are going to be required to sustain civilization, is a truly stupid idea.

New research is turning current understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on its head. A surprising new study indicates that PTSD can suddenly spike five years after a person leaves the battlefield, even when PTSD levels had declined to normal, according to a Reuters report.

It’s an indication that soldiers may need to be screened for PTSD long after getting back from a deployment, as the disorder can lie dormant for a while before suddenly reemerging.

The goal of the study was to gain insight into the changes in posttraumatic stress complaints in a long-term period after deployment, ultimately to evaluate the timing of an increase in treatment demand after deployment,” Iris Eekhout of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the lead author on the study, said in an interview with Reuters. The study focused on 1,007 Dutch soldiers who had been deployed to Afghanistan between 2005 and 2008. They found that PTSD levels spiked six months after returning home but returned to pre-deployment levels after about a year. Unexpectedly, however, they found another huge spike about five years after deployment.

PTSD affects up to 20 percent of Iraq war veterans. Until now, studies had been focused on the short-term health effects.

PTSD can be […]

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1 Comment

  1. sb on Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 7:17 am

    Check out EFT Universe, source of free & lo cost vet-specific assistance for PTSD..some report great results….plus. Somatic Attachment (I.e. Diane Poole Heller), Peter Levine, Bessel van Der Kolk…
    ******
    &, if you think our kleptocratic govmt plans to spend one cent of its $ (stolen from us workers) on anyone but its cronies re tough conditions…We need to envision & create a world that works for HUmanity