July 15th 2024
For those who have experienced trauma and suffer a subsequent mental health disorder, ongoing research is identifying psychotherapies, medications, and lifestyle changes that can help.
Reactivation of PTSD Symptoms Resulting From Sandy Hook Media Exposure
May 31st 2013Combat veterans who have suffered a moral injury in the past may be predisposed to a recurrence of the painful memories associated with previous trauma after exposure to similar traumatic events with moral overtones.
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The Soldier’s Private War and Invisible Wounds
February 23rd 2013PTSD is a psychiatric illness resulting from a physical or psychological trauma that is sometimes related to warfare, but of course occurs in the case of civilian trauma as well. However, wars have been a propitious time for studying PTSD.
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A Valentine for Nonhuman Healers
February 16th 2013About a year ago, I wrote the blog “Are Dogs Man's Best Therapist?” To my surprise, it turned out to be a very popular one. Since then, dogs continue to be in the news for their therapeutic effect, including being brought to Newtown right after the mass murder there.
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Treatment of Traumatic Stress Disorder in Children and Adolescents
October 29th 2012The role of prevention of trauma and prevention of functional impairment after trauma is paramount, because this may disrupt the accumulated physiological and psychological effect of stressors in the individual.
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The Military Can Do More To Prevent Suicides
October 8th 2012James Dao reports in the New York Times that the military is considering 2 steps to reduce its startling rate of active duty suicides-which is approaching an unacceptable one suicide every day. Both measures are completely sensible, but neither goes nearly far enough.
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The Epidemic of Military Suicide
September 20th 2012With understandable urgency, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has made suicide one of his top priorities, instructing commanders at all levels to feel acutely accountable for it. The numbers are startling. On average 1 active duty soldier is killing himself each day--twice the number of combat deaths and twice the civilian rate.
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Sixty-Five Years After World War II: A Family Secret
April 24th 2012The Holocaust is well known and has been well researched. The purpose of this study was to evaluate persons 65 years after the Holocaust who remained in Poland and discovered the “secret” of their Jewish ancestry, despite not being raised as Jews.
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Traumatic Brain Injury and Therapeutic Creativity
April 16th 2012After Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne suffered a traumatic brain injury and PTSD from a near fatal horseback riding accident, he retired from public life, secluded himself in one of the towers of his château, and devoted himself to writing.
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The Science and Politics of PTSD
February 14th 2012The first half of the 20th century saw 2 world wars, indiscriminate aerial bombing of civilians, the dropping of the atomic bomb, and the Holocaust-all of which created intense trauma for soldiers and civilians.Yet it was not until the American intervention in a post-colonial civil war in Southeast Asia that the psychiatric community in the 1970s formally described what we now call PTSD.
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PTSD, DSM-5, and Forensic Misuse
September 30th 2011In preparing DSM-IV, we worked hard to avoid causing confusion in forensic settings. Realizing that lawyers read documents in their own special way, we had a panel of forensic psychiatrists go over every word to reduce the risks that DSM IV could be misused in the courts.
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Exposure Therapy for Anxiety Disorders
September 6th 2011Exposure-based therapies are highly effective for patients with anxiety disorders, to the extent that exposure should be considered a first-line, evidence-based treatment for such patients. In clinical practice, however, these treatments are underutilized, which highlights the need for additional dissemination and training.
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Returning Veterans With Addictions
July 15th 2011Members of the military returning from combat operations have high rates of substance abuse. They also often exhibit a co-occurring triad of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and pain, which complicates the problems with substance abuse.
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Psychiatric Community Convenes to Offer Condolences in Arizona
January 14th 2011The Arizona Psychiatric Society and the American Psychiatric Association joined together to remember the victims of the Tuscon tragedy. The shooting left 6 dead and 14 others wounded, including US Rep Gabrielle Giffords, who lies in a medically induced coma recovering from a gunshot wound to the head.
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Biological Consequences and Transgenerational Impact of Violence and Abuse
November 17th 2010Every year, more than 1 million children are exposed to sexual or physical abuse or neglect in the US. The research summarized here clearly demonstrates that exposure to stress before adulthood can result in persistent effects on both mental and physical health.
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Secondary Trauma Issues for Psychiatrists
November 17th 2010The characteristics that bring people into the caring professions are, ironically, the very factors that make them vulnerable to vicarious trauma and job burnout. It is our responsibility to ensure that these adverse outcomes are minimized among those who have chosen such a career.
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Working With Traumatized Patients
November 17th 2010There are feasible and replicable ways for caring adults to help heal themselves as well as the next generation through mass application of reflection and altruistic caring for the remaining offspring, whether in Sichuan, Gaza, New Orleans, or Haiti.
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