Traumatic brain injury

A new military order requires soldiers to leave the battlefield for 24 hours after being exposed to a blast. Doctors contend the order may prevent permanent brain damage that can result if a soldier experiences a second concussion before the first one heals.

NAILING DOWN CIVILIAN JOBS CAN BE STRESSFUL

About 1.9 million of the nation's 22 million veterans have served in the armed forces since the terrorist attacks of 2001 and returned to civilian life.

The unemployment rate of those veterans was 10 percent in November, similar to the nation's overall jobless rate of 9.8 percent, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Returning to the civilian work force during a time of high unemployment has been difficult for some. Sherry S. Handel, executive director of Guard Support of Massachusetts, said 22 of 42 guard members seeking financial assistance from Guard Support as of Dec. 10 were unemployed.

 

By Lisa Eckelbecker TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Read more: http://www.telegram.com/article/20101228/NEWS/12280479/1003/NEWS03#ixzz19chTVRii

Stress may boost memory: Study

In a new study researchers have found that stress can enhance ordinary, unrelated memories. This may open up new avenues in management of patients of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related afflictions say experts.

The research team from Czech Republic's Academy of Sciences, the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center, and Rockefeller University used lab rats to prove this theory. André Fenton, the study's lead author said, “Our results show that stress can activate memory, even if that memory is unrelated to the stressful experience.”

By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD

Army wife helps vets with 'Open Arms'

Davis, the founder and president of Operation Open Arms, a non-profit organization devoted to providing food and supplies to homeless veterans and veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, explained her passion for charitable work is fueled by her personal experiences.

Davis is the wife of Sgt. Byron Davis, a Marine-turned Army Reserve Soldier with three overseas tours under his belt.

Davis said she first became interested in helping Soldiers with PTSD after witnessing the changes her husband experienced after his deployment to Iraq in 2004.

"It was very easy to tell that he wasn't okay," she said.

Davis, in support of her husband's treatment, attended an in-patient program with him run by Veterans Affairs. It was during that treatment Davis learned not all veterans have a support system in place, or the means to receive the proper care needed to make progress.
By Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown

Suicide: A battle that can be won

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif -- Over the years, Marines have fought and won many battles all over the world. One battle that has yet to be won is against an invisible enemy: suicide.

November was the first month since 2007, the Marine Corps didn’t have a reported suicide. Last year, 52 Marines committed suicide, marking the highest rate in Marine Corps history.

Suicide claimed the lives of 35 Marines in 2010, and the Marine Corps is fighting this enemy head on.

Issues stemming from legal, marital and financial problems and feelings of loneliness are known to impact a Marine’s decision to attempt suicide. 

“Marines, especially the single ones, tend to feel forgotten about during the holiday season,” said Meghan K. Jones, director of Marine Corps Family Team, Camp Pendleton. “It’s when they feel like there are no other options that they begin to make the decision to take their life.”

Jones said the Marine Corps is working to do away with the negative stigma surrounding post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Marines are taking care of Marines and utilizing the resources available to them, including the new DSTRESS hotline, Military OneSource and unit chaplains. Jones believes the chain of command is the first line of defense. 


Story by Cpl. Monty Burton

Families Weather Holidays Without Deployed Loved Ones

As a seasoned Army wife and mom, Moseley is familiar with the roller-coaster ride of emotions a deployment entails. “I know I’ll be a little down, a little depressed; it’s hard around the holidays,” she said. “But I’ve learned to reach out to friends, put more effort into the [family readiness group].”

Moseley is one of thousands of family members weathering the holidays without a deployed loved one this year. More than 140,000 U.S. servicemembers are deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with thousands more to other locations around the world.


By Elaine Wilson
American Forces Press Service

Intrepid Center Provides New Level of Warfighter Care

Six months later, as it continues to build staff to reach full operational capability, the center is making a difference in the lives of servicemembers struggling to deal with the unseen, signature wounds of war with hopes they can continue their military service.

“Our vision is to be an instrument of hope, healing, discovery and learning,” said Navy Capt. Thomas Beeman, a reservist recalled to active duty to lend his civilian health care administration expertise to help stand up the facility. “We are living out that vision and trying to meet those needs.”

The $65 million center, a gift from the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, features the most advanced equipment and facilities available to diagnose and treat TBI and other psychological disorders. Among its offerings is $10 million in imaging equipment that enables health care providers and researchers the rare ability to see inside the brain to formulate diagnoses and treatment plans.

By Donna Miles

Neurobiologist Invents New Treatment for Veterans with PTSD

(US NEWS SOURCE) December 19, 2010 - Dr. Daniel L. Kirsch, a world-renowned Neurobiologist, recently gave a keynote speech at the 2010 AAIM National Conference to present his invention known as Alpha-Stim technology, which the doctor states is a primary or complementary treatment for anxiety, insomnia and depression. A recent study showed that 3 out of 4 veterans chose Alpha-Stim as a treatment for PTSD and other ailments and is offered at Alpha-Stim.com.
Mineral Wells, TX, December 20th, 2010 – Dr. Daniel Kirsch, in a keynote speech to a packed house at the 2010 AAIM National Conference, posed a new primary or complementary treatment for anxiety, insomnia and depression. The treatment is known as cranial electrotherapy stimulation, or CES, and Dr. Kirsch with Alpha-Stim.com stated that it is a very safe and highly useful brain therapy that uses mild electrical current.

http://www.usnewssource.com/press-releases/neurobiologist-invents-new-treatment-for-veterans-with-ptsd_33126.html

Soldier Blog Gives Veterans and Active Troops a Voice This Holiday Season

A public forum for sharing stories of service, Real Combat Life hopes to ease holiday stress for members of the military, particularly those with PTSD

MANKATO, Minn., Dec. 14, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Patrick Nelson has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Serving three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and watching two of your friends die in an explosion can do that to a guy. But instead of getting mad, Patrick Nelson is waxing poetic on his very public blog, Real Combat Life (www.realcombatlife.com). And he's hoping other soldiers will do the same, particularly during the often-stressful holiday season.

Nelson launched Real Combat Life, which recently received a Pepsi Refresh Project grant, in December 2009 as a personal blog to help him manage his PTSD as the holidays were approaching. The blog quickly gained the attention of other veterans and active troops and is now a public journaling site for veterans and active soldiers alike.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/soldier-blog-gives-veterans-and-active-troops-a-voice-this-holiday-season-111851469.html

Getting Out of a Funk: Fighting Depression

Life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes emotions may be hard to recognize without the extra stress of the holidays. The holiday season is often a time of joy for many people. They may bring a host of other emotions for others—especially military families with deployed loved ones. About one out of every six adults will have depression at some time in their life. Depression affects about 15,000,000 American adults every year.

Depression is more than just feeling sad or having a bad day. It is a medical illness that involves the body, mood and thoughts that can’t be willed or wished away. However, it is a treatable disorder. The good news is the majority of people who receive treatment feel better and are able to return to normal lives.

Dr. Jack Smith - TRICARE

Doctors Use Acupuncture as Newest Battlefield Tool

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2010 – J.D. Nichols, a retired Navy flight officer and cryptologist, limped into the Air Force Acupuncture Center at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland early yesterday morning, leaning heavily on a cane.

A couple of hours later, moving easily without the cane and with the ends of tiny gold needles glittering in both ears, he waved goodbye to the military doctors who had reduced his pain using a technique called battlefield acupuncture.

The doctors, from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, were part of a workshop on the technique developed by Dr. Richard Niemtzow, a retired Air Force colonel who practiced medicine as a radiation oncologist before he studied acupuncture in 1994.

Nichols was one of four patients who volunteered for treatment at the 779th Medical Group’s acupuncture clinic, where Niemtzow and Dr. Stephen Burns, a retired Air Force colonel and full-time Air Force acupuncturist, train military doctors and treat patients.

By Cheryl Pellerin

Special Segment: Hope and Help for Veterans

December 14, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Service members returning home this holiday season, especially from Iraq and Afghanistan - may notice messages on billboards and bus stops. The Department of Veteran Affairs is reaching out to try to prevent suicide and help those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Throughout Chicagoland, there is a push to help all veterans and men and women in uniform, especially those with PTSD. ABC 7 took a hopeful look at ways veterans and others are helping military members who need it most.

Stacey Baca 

Profits and Scrutiny for Colleges Courting Veterans

More than 36 percent of the tuition payments made in the first year of the program — a total of $640 million in tuition and fees — went to for-profit colleges, like the University of Phoenix, according to data compiled by theDepartment of Veterans Affairs, even though these colleges serve only about 9 percent of the overall population at higher education institutions nationwide.

As the money flows to the for-profit university industry, questions are being raised in Congress and elsewhere about their recruitment practices, and whether they really deliver on their education promises. Some members say they want to place tighter limits on how much these colleges can collect in military benefits, a move certain federal officials say they would welcome.

By ERIC LIPTON

Are female veteran suicides a hidden epidemic?

A new report on the prevalence of suicides among females with military service is causing quite a buzz. It said younger women are three times more likely to kill themselves than their civilian counterparts, according to Oregon researchers.

The alarmingly high number of suicides among male veterans is well known, but until the study by Portland State University and Oregon Health and Science University, the cases among their female counterparts were not.

The research effort titled "Self-Inflicted Deaths Among Women With U.S. Military Service: A Hidden Epidemic?" is billed as the largest study yet on suicides among female veterans.

It saw publication last week in the December issue of the American Psychiatric Association's journal Psychiatric Services and is based on information collected from 16 states. California, home to the largest veteran population in the country, was not among them.

The study of 5,948 female suicides between 2004 and 2007 found women veterans aged 18 to 34 most at risk:

-- 56 suicides among 418,132 female veterans (1 in 7,465)

-- 1,461 suicides among 33,257,362 nonveterans (1 in 22,763).

By Rick Rogers 

Harvard, Brigham Study: Yoga Eases Veterans PTSD Symptoms

The words “Department of Defense” and “yoga” aren’t often uttered in the same breath, let alone in a long, conscious, exhale.
But preliminary results from a small study funded by the U.S. Defense Department, and led by a Harvard Medical School assistant professor, found that veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder showed improvement in their symptoms after ten weeks of yoga classes, including meditation and breathing, done twice a week, and fifteen minutes of daily practice at home.

By Rachel Zimmerman

Combat veterans and P.T.S.D.: What is it like and how do you get help?

Historically, post-traumatic stress disorder has been known by many other names. That is proof enough that it has always been a very real problem. The worst problem was that it was largely ignored or soldiers suffering from it were labeled as deranged or were imprisoned because they were never treated. The Vietnam War is notorious for producing veterans with "Shell Shock" who were treated horribly upon their return to the United States. Today, it is much different. We know much more about this disorder and returning soldiers are screened for it. The system is far from perfect, but OIF and OEF soldiers have a far better chance of successful reintegration into their community than veterans of previous wars.

Shelly Barclay

Bringing Dogs to Heal: Care for Veterans with PTSD

Staff Sergeant Brad Fasnacht was clearing mines on an Afghan road a year ago when an IED blast broke his spine and both ankles and put him in a two-week stupor that ended only when he woke up, 7,000 miles away, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The explosion had knocked his helmeted head so violently, he suffered a traumatic brain injury, which exacerbates his posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although Army doctors and nurses have been able to get the 26-year-old walking again, he has had to call in a specialist — Sapper, an Australian cattle dog mix — to help tackle his PTSD.

 

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2030897-1,00.html#ixzz17X94VoZW

 

By MARK THOMPSON

Army Plans 'Virtual Afghanistan' to Help Treat PTSD

ORLANDO, Fla. (Dec. 2) -- An Army-funded institute that has used virtual reality to help treat traumatized veterans of the war in Iraq is now moving to build an even more detailed virtual world of Afghanistan.

The Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California, which conducted pioneering work using virtual reality to treat those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, recently received funding from the U.S. Army to build a new, advanced computer program based on Afghanistan, according to Dr. Albert "Skip" Rizzo, a research scientist at the institute.

Virtual Afghanistan is expected to be even more realistic -- and detailed -- than the Iraq computer program. "We've got literally hundreds of stories people have told in therapy about where and what occurred to them and what happened to them," Rizzo told AOL News in an interview here. "That's stuff we didn't have when we started."

Sharon Weinberger Contributor

Family Focus: A Handbook for Family and Friends of Servicemembers

Recently, the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) collaborated with Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to produce a handbook for military families. Created as a companion to the PBS series “This Emotional Life,” A Handbook for Family & Friends of Service Members explores the stressors and feelings individuals may encounter throughout the different phases of deployment. The handbook aims to provide solutions for servicemembers and identifies outside tools and resources that may be useful to friends and family members before, during and after deployment.

The handbook covers a variety of topics to help servicemembers and their families develop skills to become more resilient throughout the deployment process. Divided into three distinct sections:  pre-deployment, deployment and post-deployment. Each segment explores topics related to relationships, self-care, communication and staying informed.

By C. Haight

Experts Focus on Post Traumatic Epilepsy in Military Personnel and Civilians

Newswise - A panel of medical experts will discuss the implications of combat-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) today in an opening day session of the 64th American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting here at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center. The session will focus on post traumatic seizure care from treatment on the battlefield to veteran hospitals and the civilian community.

Post-traumatic seizures and epilepsy can develop anytime from immediately to days or weeks to more than a decade after brain injury. Not all military personnel who have experienced combat-related TBI obtain care in the VA hospital system. Many integrate into civilian medical practice and receive care from healthcare professionals who might not recognize TBI as the cause of the epilepsy.

http://newsblaze.com/story/2010120113400700002.wi/topstory.html

MILITARY: Marine Corps to reassess how it prepares troops for life after war

Each year, Dan Clouse oversees the about-face of nearly 7,000 Camp Pendleton Marines, trying to turn legions of men and women who've been at war for years into regular citizens ready to go to work in the civilian world.
It's not an easy task.
The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans was 21.6 percent in 2009. It currently sits at nearly 25 percent for California veterans younger than 24, according to federal and state statistics.
"We get a lot of these guys right out of high school, train them to be Marines and infantrymen and send them to war," said Clouse, base employment and transition supervisor. "A lot of them wind up with no real transferable skills when it comes time to leave."
That reality is reflected on the streets. A report released last month by the San Diego County Regional Task Force on Homelessness says 22.9 percent of the county's estimated 8,574 people with no home in January were veterans.
San Diego County has more people who have recently left the military ---- about 27,000 ---- than any other region of the country, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
This week, the Marine Corps will confront the issue head-on. Clouse and transition specialists from around the nation are scheduled to gather in Washington to review the Transition Assistance Program, the result of a directive by the new commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos.
The commandant says he wants to ensure that the right education and occupational training are being offered to fulfill "our commitment to return better citizens back to communities across our nation."

By MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com North County Times - Californian | Posted: Saturday, November 27, 2010 9:00 pm

Call center links troubled soldiers to help

Troubled troops, veterans and family members have a round-the-clock, free resource for locating the help they need to deal with psychological health problems and traumatic brain injuries.


The 24/7 Outreach Center is part of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, or DCoE. The center is always staffed with trained, professional health-resource consultants.

“The DCoE call center provides specific subject-matter expertise on psychological health and traumatic brain injury,” said Lolita O’Donnell, DCoE acting director for clearinghouse, outreach and advocacy...
 
Special to the Courier

Updated: Nov. 22, 2010 2:09 p.m.