Study: Veterans with PTSD more likely to be prescribed addictive painkillers

Read my article on this study at Mother Nature Network.

Study: Cannabis use slows PTSD recovery

A new study from the National Center for PTSD shows that marijuana use slows recovery for people with PTSD. In fact, of the veterans studied, those who had what the study calls "cannabis use disorder" had PTSD symptoms as bad as people who had received no treatment at all.

The study found that while cannabis temporarily relieved veterans' PTSD-related anxiety, the anxiety came back right after cannabis use was discontinued. The study suggests that PTSD patients be taught adaptive coping techniques before they are diagnosed medical marijuana.

Read more:

Cannabis Use May Prolong PTSD Symptoms

For more information on PTSD empowerment techniques, as well as free online addiction recovery meetings, visit Fearless Nation PTSD Support.

Two free online PTSD presentations today

Fearless Nation PTSD Support will hold two free online presentations and discussions on "What is PTSD?" today at 1pm and 5pm PST.

The lectures, by Fearless Nation founder Colleen Crary, will focus on the basics of PTSD as well as the latest research in recovery. The presentations will be followed by a discussion and Q and A session.

Later this week, Fearless Nation will also host peer-led discussions on empowerment and addiction recovery, as well as an open house of the Fearless Nation PTSD Support virtual retreat.

Full information on the presentations and discussion groups is available here.

Pre-registration is required for the events, which gives you time to join SpotOn 3D, the new social networking home of Fearless Nation.

Study: Risperdal Does Not Help PTSD

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that anti-psychotic drugs like Risperdal do not help alleviate PTSD symptoms, despite their common use with veterans.

According to the study, 20% of veterans being treated by the VA for PTSD took an anti-psychotic in 2009. More than 90% of those veterans took second-generation anti-psychotics, which include Risperdal.

The FDA has not approved the use of anti-psychotics for treatment of PTSD.

You can read more about the study here, and find the actual study here. (The paper is free right now, but may be behind a pay firewall later.)

Military's prescription drug policy criticized - especially for Seroquel

In the first part of an ongoing investigative series, news site Nextgov reports that the U.S. military's prescription drug policies puts its soldiers and its veterans at risk.

"A June 2010 internal report from the Defense Department's Pharmacoeconomic Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio showed that 213,972, or 20 percent of the 1.1 million active-duty troops surveyed, were taking some form of psychotropic drug: antidepressants, antipsychotics, sedative hypnotics, or other controlled substances."

Many of these soldiers and veterans are on multiple anti-psychotics, which one doctor said is not necessary.

Most of the criticism comes down on the use of the anti-psychotic Seroquel, which the military allows to be prescribed as a sleep aid -- which is not one of the uses the FDA has approved for the drug.

"Smith said he was "flabbergasted" that military doctors prescribed Seroquel as a sleep aid, as the Food and Drug Administration has not approved such a use and other drugs are more effective. Breggin agreed, calling Seroquel "very dangerous, expensive and not proven to be more beneficial than other drugs."

Jackson noted Seroquel has the addictive potential of opioids, such heroin."

Nextgov also spoke to Stan White, whose son Andrew suffered from PTSD and was prescribed multiple medications, but barely had access to talk therapy:

"White said Andrew was so befuddled by his drug cocktail, which included Klonopin, a benzodiazepine, and hydrocodone, an opiate, that his wife, Shirley, had to dole them out forAndrew. White said Seroquel did not diminish Andrew's nightmares at even such a high dosage.

While talk therapy is widely viewed as one of the most effective treatments for some mental health problems, including PTSD, White said Andrew had only a few such sessions, primarily with a local veterans' peer therapy group. It was not until the week Andrew died that a VA psychiatrist decided to begin intensive sessions with him."

You can (and should) read Nextgov's entire report here:

Military's drug policy threatens troops' health, doctors say

67% of prostitutes meet criteria for PTSD

Tim Bates, columnist for the Rome Observer, digs up some surprising statistics about prostitution:

"the Council for Prostitution Alternatives, in Portland, Oregon... found that 85 percent of surveyed prostitutes reported a history of sexual abuse in childhood, while 70 percent reported incest. Compare that to estimates of childhood sexual abuse in the general population at anywhere from 15- 38 percent of women and 12-16 percent of men...

"Other statistics ... over half have been raped or beaten by a client, more than three quarters have been physically assaulted while in prostitution and/or have attempted suicide, and that 67 percent meet diagnostic criteria for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."

Bates is arguing that prostitution is hardly a "victimless crime," as many often see it, but tends to involve people who have already been traumatized victimized and makes it likely for the women to be further traumatized at every step.

Crimes against prostitutes are far too often ignored by the police. This is a segment of the population whose trauma almost makes them invisible.

Let's not forget that soldiers aren't the only people with PTSD, and that war takes on many forms.

The primary, secondary and tertiary effects of PTSD

Bob Trowbridge's article "Secondary and tertiary effects of post-traumatic stress related to war" for Helium (a health & fitness site) does much to illustrate the pains and symptoms of PTSD.

Trowbridge (a spiritual counselor, not a therapist) breaks it down like this:

Primary effects:
Nightmares
Flashbacks
Hypersensitivity
High blood pressure and other physical symptoms
Paranoia
Withdrawal from society

Secondary effects:
The effect on friends and family
The potential for violence

Tertiary effects:
Difficulty rejoining society
Unemployment
Homelessness
Alcohol and drug abuse
Inability to perform in social situations

Trowbridge points out that this three-tiered breakdown of effects is completely artificial. In other words, it's not a diagnostic tool, just a way for us to look at symptom/effects in meaningful clumps that tell a story of the problems PTSDers encounter.

And hopefully, once we understand, proper treatment can begin.

Worth a read.

Morphine to fight PTSD?

Giving someone morphine soon after they experience a traumatic event could help stave off the development of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a study headed up by the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

According to The Washington Post, "In a study of about 700 troops who were wounded in Iraq, those who received morphine soon after being injured were about half as likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder as those who did not get the drug." (Don't worry, they weren't experimenting on these people, just looking at their medical records.)

The researchers don't know why morphine helped those soldiers: "It is not known whether morphine's apparently protective effect arises directly from the relief of traumatic pain or indirectly by blocking the brain circuits that lay down traumatic memory."

Out of 696 people whose records were examined, 61% of people who received morphine developed PTSD, while 76% of those who did not receive morphine also developed PTSD, "which researchers said translated into a 53 percent reduction in risk," according to the Post.