Willis,
You are all over it. My dad fought in WW 2. He was in the Marines and fought throughout the Pacific campaign. The stories he told me about what his marines did would get soldiers and marines prosecuted today. But that was a war for survival, there was no CNN looking over their shoulders, and that is how they relieved stress in a bloody, grueling conflict. Now, we are all expected to internalize things… and some people aren't good at that. I have friends that went into combat over and over. Strong men, and brave, facing their fears and overcoming them. Now, some of them have pretty severe PTSD and it embarrasses them… because their wounds aren't visible. To me, PTSD deserves a Purple Heart just like any other combat inflicted wound.
Virtual humans work better than current ways to identify post-traumatic stress in soldiers. Researchers find that soldiers are more likely to open up about post-traumatic stress when interviewed by a virtual interviewer, reports a new study. Virtual interviewers can combine the rapport-building skills of human interviewers with feelings safety provided by anonymous surveys to help soldiers to reveal more about their mental health symptoms. Source 9z.
I can see this because many people we talk to have no clue about what we experienced and when you start to talk to them you can see them look at us differently so that causes us to stop talking to them about it and go elsewhere with no real help.
What's in a name? Researchers track PTSD's many identities during war. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with military activities for as long as wars have been fought -- but this disorder was only named in the 1980s. A new article documents a different kind of war -- a war of words -- that has been fought over the name of the disorder, and may have slowed clinical and scientific progress on the disorder. Source 5v.
Three signs of good PTSD care for Veterans. As a Veteran with PTSD, you deserve the best treatment available. Whether you are seen at VA, in a Vet Center, or by a community provider, you need to feel sure that your care is working for you. Source 6d.
Mitigating stress, PTSD risk in warfighters. Researchers have developed a technique that has the potential to provide measures that facilitate the development of procedures to mitigate stress and the onset of conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder in warfighters. Source 1l.
Brain area tied to emotions is larger in vets, service members with mild TBI and PTSD. A new study finds that veterans and active-duty service members with combat-related PTSD and mild traumatic brain injury had larger amygdalas -- the region of the brain that processes such emotions as fear, anxiety, and aggression -- than those with only brain injuries. Source 6m.
Rare sleep disorder common among veterans with PTSD. Military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or concussion suffer from a thrashing form of sleep behavior at a rate that is far higher than the general population, according to a new study. Researchers next want to probe whether the sleep disorder might provide an early signal of the development of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's disease. Source 3u.