Repeat Brain Injury Raises Soldiers' Suicide Risk
Salt Lake City; May 15, 2013—People in the military who suffer more than one mild traumatic brain injury face a significantly higher risk of suicide, according to research by the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.
A survey of 161 military personnel who were stationed in Iraq and evaluated for a possible traumatic brain injury—also known as TBI—showed that the risk for suicidal thoughts or behaviors increased not only in the short term, as measured during the past 12 months, but during the individual's lifetime.
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Brain Imaging Study Links Cannabinoid Receptors to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
NEW YORK, May 14, 2013—In a first-of-its-kind effort to illuminate the biochemical impact of trauma, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have discovered a connection between the quantity of cannabinoid receptors in the human brain, known as CB1 receptors, and post-traumatic stress disorder, the chronic, disabling condition that can plague trauma victims with flashbacks, nightmares and emotional instability. Their findings, which appear online today in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, will also be presented this week at the annual meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry in San Francisco.
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PTSD Research: Distinct Gene Activity Patterns from Childhood Abuse
May 1, 2013—Abuse during childhood is different. A study of adult civilians with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) has shown that individuals with a history of childhood abuse have distinct, profound changes in gene activity patterns, compared to adults with PTSD but without a history of child abuse.
Betrayed: Why All Trauma Is Not Equal
March 18, 2013—When the topic of trauma comes up, we often wonder why some people are more resilient than others. In other words, some have a greater capacity to work through trauma effects on their own, while others fall victim to a variety of persistent psychological symptoms—and even posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We know that the quality of early attachment is related to resilience, but it’s also clear that there are other factors that come into play.
Some of these relate to differences in the type and frequency of exposure. Someone who experiences a single traumatic incident would naturally be subject to different outcomes compared to someone who has experienced multiple episodes of a particular trauma—or the cumulative effect of different types of trauma over time. But even taking these factors into consideration, researchers have noticed significant differences in the severity of trauma symptoms between several specific categories of traumatic experience.
One new study just out from the APA's Division 56 (Trauma Psychology) sheds more light on why some people end up with PTSD and others don't.
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Dwelling on Stressful Events Can Increase
Inflammation in the Body, Study Finds
ATHENS, Ohio; March 13, 2013—Dwelling on negative events can increase levels of inflammation in the body, a new Ohio University study finds.
Researchers discovered that when study participants were asked to ruminate on a stressful incident, their levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of tissue inflammation, rose. The study is the first time to directly measure this effect in the body.
“Much of the past work has looked at this in non-experimental designs. Researchers have asked people to report their tendency to ruminate, and then looked to see if it connected to physiological issues. It’s been correlational for the most part,” said Peggy Zoccola, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio University.
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