Trauma, PTSD Shrink Hippocampus

According to a meta-analysis of 19 studies, trauma and PTSD symptoms may precede a reduction in the size of the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning and memory. The findings seem to support a physical, neurological component to PTSD.

Small hippocampi and PTSD have been linked in the past, but it has been difficult to disentangle cause and effect, according to BYU grad student and lead author Martin Woon.

"The big question about which came first, much like the chicken and the egg, has persisted... We found children’s hippocampi were intact after the onset of abuse, but somehow there was shrinkage in the group that had reached adulthood."

The study appeared in the August issue of the neuroscience journal Hippocampus.

The abstract and an article on the findings are available online.

PTSD Increases Heart Disease Risk

As a risk factor for heart disease, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is like “smoking two to three packs of cigarettes per day for more than 20 years,” according to a Geisinger study published in the July issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. The study examined over 4,000 Vietnam veterans and found that those with PTSD were more than twice as likely to die of heart disease and those without.

Army War College Bibliography on PTSD

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Military: A Selected Bibliography" has just been uploaded to the US Army War College website. The bibliography is an update of a 2005 bibliography compiled by the same librarian, Lori Sekala. It includes government sources, along with scholarly journals and periodicals. From the preface:

Over the past several years, the topic of military mental healthcare has received renewed attention, both inside and outside the Armed Forces. This selected bibliography focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its presentation in military personnel. Included are references to books, documents, periodical articles, multimedia, and web sites related to this topic. A separate section concentrates on PTSD in members of the military and its relationship to age, gender, or ethnicity. This is followed by a section focusing on disability claims as the result of PTSD.

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Does the bibliography leave anything out? Leave a comment and tell us.

A Comprehensive PTSD Handbook

In the American Journal of Psychiatry, Jonathan I. Bisson reviews the new Handbook on PTSD: Science and Practice, edited by Matthew J. Friedman, Terence M. Keane and Patricia A. Resickis. The review calls it a “comprehensive” and “highly readable volume that will undoubtedly be of great use to individuals specializing in traumatic stress.”

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Have you read this book? Post a comment and share your thoughts.

Veterans No Longer Need to "Re-Prove" PTSD

Kelly Kennedy at the Air Force Times reports that the Veteran Affairs Department will no longer require veterans already diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder filing a disability claim for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to provide an additional written verification that they had witnessed or experienced a traumatic event.

As Kennedy reports:

In Iraq, troops joke about keeping a pen and paper on hand in case they witness a shooting or explosion or are injured themselves. That way, they can run around and have all their buddies sign a quick statement saying it really happened. The joke loses steam when a Marine has to prove he was involved in a traumatizing event when he had a hand blown off in that event, or when a soldier has to prove he watched his friends die to qualify for benefits.
“They don’t have to reprove their diabetes,” said Mary Ellen McCarthy, special projects counsel for the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “They don’t have to reprove a leg injury. I have never seen any other condition diagnosed in service [for which] people had to reprove their injury."

Under the new policy, a medical examination will be sufficient to prove PTSD, hopefully speeding up the already backlogged process of filing disability claims.

Update: Thanks to reader twocents for pointing out that Air Force Times had updated the article. The original didn't reflect that the change only affects veterans already diagnosed with PTSD by the military.

Trauma-Resistant Genes

Researchers have isolated a gene whose variation may help explain why some victims of childhood abuse avoid adult depression. “Knowing what those variations are eventually could help clinicians individualize care for their patients by predicting who may be at risk or suggesting more precise avenues for treatment,” says National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas R. Insel, M.D. The study was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry and funded by the NIMH.

For more information, the NIMH has a press release here, while Scientific American has a brief here, and the abstract of the original study is available here.

No Peace for Peacekeepers

The Torontoist reports that a new study from the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry has found a 10% rate of probable PTSD and a 29% rate of probable depression among Canadian peacekeepers. "Peacekeeping has become more dangerous since evolving from observer operations to peace-enforcing missions in the 1990s," the Torontoist reports.

A PDF of the study is available here.