More talk, less pills

Over the last three years, at least 32 US veterans have died of accidental prescription drug overdoses.  One vet was taking 11 different medications:


Diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and suffering primarily from psychiatric problems, Robert Nichols was taking a mix of 11 drugs that left him groggy and confused during the last few weeks of his life. They included Percocet, Valium, Celexa, the antipsychotic Seroquel, and Depakote, an anti-seizure drug used to treat major depression and bipolar disorder...

Some of the criticism of Nichols' other others' deaths comes from having too many doctors, each of whom are prescribing and none of whom are consulting with the others.

Not only should doctors be talking with each other, we'd advise people with PTSD to seek talk therapy rather than rely on so many medications.

The Navy Times has more:
Too many prescriptions, too little talk

'Violin Doc' helps treat PTSD with music

At a New Jersey VA clinic, Dr. Mary Rorro is helping vets with PTSD by playing music. The goal: help the vets to relax before they begin talk therapy.

Music therapy is gaining acceptance, based in part on some new research:

"...recent findings from McGill University’s Neuropsychology department suggest that specific parts of the brain are activated when patients listen to music which they like. And when the nucleus accumbens and the caudate nucleus, which are part of the reward, motivation and emotion systems, get jazzed up, a person starts feeling better. These same circuits release powerful chemicals when someone falls in love, eats good food, does drugs or has sex."

Rorro, nicknamed the "Violin Doc" (despite the fact that she plays a viola) says that live music, played slowly on lower-pitched instruments, with no lyrics and with a steady beat, connects best with the people she is treating.

You can read more about this, and watch some videos of Rorro playing, here, thanks to New York's WNYC:

Music Therapy Helps Vets Control Symptoms of PTSD

A lesson from the ancient Greeks

More than 2,000 years ago, the ancient Greeks used plays to help soldiers in the audience to deal with the stress of war. Now, the U.S. military is trying the same idea with their new "Real Warriors" program, "a program in which servicemembers can talk about and listen to the stories of those who sought help for psychological injuries or traumatic brain injuries."

Stars and Stripes has more.

60 Years Later: WWII Vet Talks About PTSD

From the Fort Mill Times:

Until now [Don] Frederick has related his World War II experiences to only a close circle of fellow veterans. He's never discussed the experiences in detail with his wife, his three children, or even his brother, another World War II vet. That has changed.

Frederick is now sharing his accounts with people willing to listen to what he has to say including [Dr. Susan Czapiewski, a psychiatrist at the Veterans hospital in Minneapolis and an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota.]. The talking is therapy, Czapiewski said. Talk therapy hinges on the talker making a connection with a listener, she said.

"There's a muscle in our middle ear that focuses, that allows us focus on that human voice and sort of drown out what else is going on in the environment, and so there's this strong very primitive social connection that happens that is very soothing and very calming and very healing," she said.