PTSD: Do Men and Women React Differently?

Courtesy VA.gov

A study of 18 men and 13 women who had been diagnosed with PTSD showed researchers that the genders react differently to fear.

A staff psychologist at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco conducted the study that was published in the October 2012 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Women vs. Men

The study showed women responded more strongly to visual cues than men when they saw a particular image that they knew was going to be followed by an electric shock.

Researchers say it suggests that women can be  conditioned more robustly than men.
PTSD Gender Rates

Mental health experts say women in the general population are twice as likely than men to develop post traumatic stress disorder. Yet, the rate of PTSD was the same among men and women recently seeking treatment at the VA.

As with most research, it created more questions than answers. Researchers don’t know what drives the gender differences in fear conditioning and if there are biological differences  in the fear responses of men and women.

You can read more about the PTSD Gender study HERE.

among recent returnees seeking care at VA, PTSD rates among men and women are the same. Statistics such as these suggest the need to better understand the role of gender in PTSD, particularly as it may impact our Veterans seeking care.” – See more at: http://www.va.gov/health/NewsFeatures/2013/April/PTSD-Study-Men-Versus-Women.asp#sthash.7qpEcaVJ.dpuf

among recent returnees seeking care at VA, PTSD rates among men and women are the same. Statistics such as these suggest the need to better understand the role of gender in PTSD, particularly as it may impact our Veterans seeking care.” – See more at: http://www.va.gov/health/NewsFeatures/2013/April/PTSD-Study-Men-Versus-Women.asp#sthash.7qpEcaVJ.dpuf

Student Vets Invite All to a Free Screening of “The Welcome”

A photo from The Welcome Home Project, basis for the documentary The Welcome.

All are welcome to a free screening of the documentary film, The Welcome, which tracks veterans and their families through a five-day retreat that transforms the experience of war into “the beauty of poetry.”

Air Force veteran and president of the University of South Florida Student Veterans Association, Kiersten Downs, is extending an open invitation to encourage better understanding between veterans, other college students and staff and the general public.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 27 starting at 2 pm

WHERE: University of South Florida Tampa Campus, the Oval Theater in the Marshall Student Center, 4202 E. Fowler Ave.

The special event will include an introduction by Michael Dakduk, Executive Director of Student Veterans of America, Additionally, the SVA and the USF Office of Veteran Services will be launching the Got Your 6 Campus Success Network prior to the film. There will be free food to follow.

 

A Marine’s Voice Being Heard from the Dance Stage

There are many voices of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. One that caught my ear today is from Marine Sergeant Roman Baca.

His story, as told to  Jonathan Wei, is featured in the Village Voice. It’s about Baca’s life as a ballet dancer turned Marine combatant and how ballet brought him back after a tour in Iraq.

Here’s how he described a confrontation with his girlfriend who sat him down six months after he returned from deployment in Fallujah:

And she’s like, “You’re not OK. I don’t like the person you are.” She said I was anxious, I was depressed, I was angry. I was mean. I had some episodes when I was driving on the freeway, and traffic was getting bad. I wanted to ram into other cars.

That was part of the standard operating procedure when you were dealing with other cars in Iraq. You take care of the situation.

4 Tips to Help Your Service Member Seek Mental Health Help

U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Sean Stevenson takes a knee while on a security patrol in Sangin, Afghanistan, June 6, 2011. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Nathan McCord/Released)

A family member is usually the first to know when something is wrong with their service member whether its depression or symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. But getting your loved one to seek help is easy to put-off.

There are a few tips to help prepare and present a case for help offered by experts at the Defense Centers of Excellence:

Gather information
Become informed about PTSD, family reintegration, combat stresses, depression, alcohol and drug use to start.  Try these resources.

Talk about your concerns
Talk openly about your thoughts, feelings and concerns you have about how the veteran is feeling or reacting to situations. Refrain from using the pronoun “you” – instead, try saying, “I know things are not going well right now … I’d like to help.”

Recognize your service member or veteran’s choices
Demanding someone seek help can backfire. Avoid making threats. Talk about choices. Only the individual can make the choice and commitment to improve their lives, but your support can make this more likely.

Get help from others about talking with your loved one
If you’re having trouble talking to your service member about mental health concerns or just want to know about the right treatment resources, Military OneSource at 800-342-9647 can be a good start.

For those family members concerned about a military veteran, you can contact Coaching Into Care at 888-823-7458. This program, provided by Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), helps family members assist their veteran in accessing health and mental health care.

VA Backlog of Benefits Claims Got Worse in 2012

Making it easier for veterans to apply for benefits and disability for traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and agent orange exposure served to swell the backlog of VA benefits claims in 2012.

The VA has processed about 1 million claims a year, but more than 1 million new ones keep coming in reported Quil Lawrence of NPR.

Hundreds of thousands of veterans who suffered injuries while serving in the military must wait many months for care and compensation. Slightly more than 863,000 people had pending compensation claims with the VA in December, according to a Dec. 17 report.

A Backlog Worsens

At the start of 2012, the department promised to cut into that big backlog of claims. But over the course of the year, that backlog has gotten worse, not better.

Tips for Managing PTSD and Enjoying the Holidays

Photo courtesy of the VA.

The heightened stress that comes with the holidays can be a challenge for combat veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and their families. Dr. James Bender, a clinical psychologist with the Defense Centers of Excellence, compiled some suggestions.

Bright lights, loud noises and large crowds that come with the holidays can make holiday events troubling to someone with PTSD.

Crowds and Crowded Spaces

Christmas shopping can be difficult to manage for service members who patrolled while deployed. They may be overly alert and anxious in large crowds scanning for danger. Extreme anxiety around crowds is a symptom that can improve with treatment, but it takes time.

Alcohol

There’s nothing wrong with moderate drinking, but people with PTSD are at-risk for alcohol abuse and dependence. But alcohol interacts with a common class of PTSD medication called SSRIs, which can lead to impaired coordination, reaction time and judgment.

Social Withdrawal

Avoidance is a prominent symptom of PTSD. Social withdrawal symptoms can be managed with relaxation techniques to reduce anxiety and by taking a 5-10 minute “time out” during a party — a walk around the block or step outside for a breath of fresh air.

From a post by Dr. James Bender, DCoE clinical psychologist on December 13, 2012

Marine’s Death Spurs Homeless OEF/OIF Veterans Housing

Marine Brendan MacDonald Fyfe served three tours in Iraq. His battle with PTSD and death due to a drug overdose spurred his parents to raise money to build homeless housing just for OIF/OEF veterans.

Almost 25 percent of homeless people are military veterans. Transitioning from the battlefield to a civilian job or school can be challenging — especially if the veteran has unresolved problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Bruce Fyfe, chairman of the board at Clearwater’s Homeless Emergency Project, understands the plight of homeless veterans at several levels. Fyfe and his wife Wanda helped raise more than $1.6 million to build a 32-unit complex specifically for homeless veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

“This is pretty much what they look like, full bedroom, living area, full kitchen with a stove, microwave,” Fyfe said as he showed off the individual unit that will allow them to accept both male and female veterans. “We used the same criteria we always use, would this be a place that I would stay in. If it isn’t, I don’t want to build it and that’s been the philosophy of HEP since we started.”

The brand new complex for OIF/OEF veterans cost $3.7 million to build and includes a Veterans Club House with common areas for computer work, television viewing and a workout room with up-to-date exercise equipment.

PTSD Service Dog Study Suspended by Tampa VA

Image courtesy of the VA Research on PTSD.

Citing problems with the vendor who provided the service dogs, Tampa’s James A. Haley Veterans Hospital  has suspended – for a second time – a study looking  if service dogs help lessen PTSD symptoms in veterans according to The Atlantic.

The latest setback left about 100 veterans on the study’s waiting list without any hope that they’d receive a dog in the near future. It also raised the thorny question of how to conduct research in a field that is new, but where the need is urgent.

This was the VA’s first study of PTSD service dogs that are traditionally used for veterans who are blind or have other disabilities. Reportedly, the study that is looking for scientific datawill resume in 10 months after it’s been redesigned and opened up nationally to dog trainers.

The revised study will focus on an improved training framework and guidelines for pairing dogs with patients. You can read the full Atlantic article HERE.

September 11, 2001 New York by the Numbers

Security, tourists and memorials around construction at the World Trade Center site on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

My thanks to New York Magazine for this — with this note — we are not defined by numbers, instead by our experiences and how we respond.

The Towers

• The initial numbers are indelible: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m.
• Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes.
• Time they took to fall: 12 seconds.

The First Responders

• 343 Number of firefighters and paramedics killed
• 23  Number of New York Police officers killed
• 37  Number of Port Authority police officers killed

The Workers

• 1,402 Number of employees who died in Tower One
• 614  Number of employees who died in Tower Two
• 115  Number of nations whose citizens were killed in the attack

New Yorkers

• 422,000 Number of New Yorkers estimated to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of 9/11

A full encyclopedia of 9/11 compiled by New York Magazine is available HERE.

A Tribute: NYT Faces of the Dead – “I See Them Every Day”

Photo courtesy of Paving the Road Back blog.

Rod Deaton is a psychiatrist who cares for veterans in Indianapolis.  He also writes the blog, Paving the Road Back: Serving those who have served in combat.

I follow his blog to gain insight, to find solutions, to share stories.

This time it’s one of his veterans who taught Deaton and me a lesson. It all started with the New York Times tribute to those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq with the photographic reminder, Faces of the Dead.

I encourage you to read Deaton’s full blog entry, but I’ll start you off with a portion:

BY ROD DEATON

I knew that I would end up having to write about this experience.  But before I could even get enough breathing room to consider doing that, within hours of my having viewed that screen, I was sitting before my patient.

He is not doing well.

He is not suicidal.  He is not giving up.  But he is tired.  He wants to move forward in his life.  He wants at least some of it, the pain, the memories, please, God, to stop.

I debate whether to say anything to him.  He is distressed already, after all.  Yet I also wanted him to know that I had not forgotten, neither him nor the name of his best friend.

“Have you seen the pictures in The Times?” I asked.

He hadn’t.

“Would you like to?”

He looked at me, an odd mixture of blankly and knowingly.  That was such a dangerous move for a therapist.  I’d taken the risk that he’d say “yes” for my sake, not his.  I might have misstepped.

“Yes,” he finally said.

I believed he meant it.  I was tempted to check that out.  I kept my mouth shut, though.  What’s done was done.  He didn’t owe me any more assurance than that.