Houston housing development for vets with PTSD to be the first of its kind

MyFoxHouston reports on a new housing development that could eventually house up to 160 vets with PTSD. Residents will get job training and family counseling while they live there. 



Read more:

First of its kind housing development for vets with PTSD - MyFoxHouston

Spouses and PTSD

As the partner of a woman with complex PTSD, I understand how important it is for couples to work together to heal the effects of trauma. Sometimes, that means a spouse needs to be the person to say "You need to get help," as we see in this article from the Florida Times-Union:

Spouses are often the first to notice effects of PTSD | jacksonville.com

Research: Stress (and its damage) Can Be Passed on Genetically

According to new research, some of the effects of PTSD could possibly be passed on to your offspring, or even make your children more likely to develop PTSD if they encounter their own traumatic events. 

A study of Holocaust survivors found that their children were more susceptible to PTSD because the bodies of both parents and children generated lower levels of cortisol, a hormone that helps shut down the stress response.

The Independent has much more on this research in a recent article:

Stressed out? It could be in your genes

Managing Your Post-Holiday Stress

Psychology Today has a great new article about managing your holiday-induced stress: PTSD: Post-Thanksgiving Stress Disorder?

Here's a good quote from the beginning of the article:

"But time alone will not put the past behind you. Without realizing it, you may be holding onto your pain -- and often re-create it in the present -- in a misguided attempt to protect yourself from further trauma."

This is all less about PTSD than the general trauma caused by our every-day lives, but it's still worth a read.

Tips on Coping with Holiday Stress

The start of the big holiday season is upon us -- a cause for stress for people with PTSD (not to mention just about everyone else). How do you handle it? Fearless Nation founder Colleen Crary has come up with some great tips for dealing with the holidays. Read, enjoy, and take care of yourself.

After 40 years, father with PTSD reunited with the daughter he left behind

39 years ago, John Watson, a Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD, abandoned his wife and three-year-old daughter.

20 years ago, when he was healthier, he started trying to find his daughter.

It took him until this year, when he finally located his daughter, now 42, on Facebook.

You can read their story, and watch a video interview, here.

Children Can Get PTSD from Their Parents

A Canadian study focusing on the families of returning vets indicates that parents can pass PTSD along to their children.

"Isolation, depression and trauma are among the symptoms soldiers pass on to their kids, according to preliminary results from a Canadian study," according to a report on the study at the website Parent Dish. Kids also risk "physical abuse, emotional neglect and unpredictable rage."

The study was very small -- just four teenagers whose parents, three of whom had PTSD, had served in recent conflicts, but it echoes other studies and real-world examples we've heard too much about.

Read more:

Children Getting More PTSD, Less TLC From Parents Returning From War

Study: Hispanics More Prone to PTSD

This isn't a new study, but it popped up in my news alerts, and I thought it was worth sharing.

According to a study published in 2006 by the journal Psychiatry,"Hispanics as a population may be more prone to the development of PTSD." The study found that trauma was intensified by the addition of racial discrimination and the loss of cultural social networks that might have otherwise provided some relief mechanism.

It's this loss of cultural, familial and religious networks (a situation that all immigrants may find themselves in) that makes this study particularly relevant. As the authors write, "the Latino population continues to grow at a pace that far exceeds the capability of both current Latino/bilingual psychiatrists and the number of Latinos in the mental health provider pipeline."

You can read the paper's abstract here: The Relevance of Hispanic Culture to the Treatment of a Patient with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

How children react to parents with PTSD

One family member's PTSD can have terrible effects on the rest of the family, especially when it's a parent suffering.

According to an article from the National Center for PTSD, the symptoms of PTSD "can be frightening not only for the individual experiencing them but also for the children who witness them."

Children often react to PTSD in three common ways: by behaving like their PTSDer parent (the "over-identified child"); by trying to fill the adult's normal role in the family (the "rescuer child"); or by becoming emotionally uninvolved.

All of these responses can pose problems for a child later in life. And in fact, the children can, themselves, develop their own cases of PTSD, a condition known as "intergenerational transmission of trauma."

But that doesn't mean the situation is hopeless for families. According to the article, simply explaining to a child why a parent has been traumatized (without going in graphic detail) can go a long way toward alleviating the stress a child feels.

Treatment/therapy as a family is also often a valuable asset and tool.

If anyone in your family is suffering from PTSD, this article by Jennifer L. Price, PhD, is essential reading:

When a Child's Parent Has PTSD - National Center for PTSD

PTSD and its effect on the family

How does PTSD affect the entire family unit? From spouses to children to parents, it can be devastating.

JD News, a newspaper out of Jacksonville, is running a two-part series on the effects of PTSD on military families. Here's part one:

Families also suffer from effects PTSD

And here's part two:

Programs help educate families about PTSD

(Some of the resources listed in part two are just for people in the Jacksonville area, but others are nation-wide, and all of the advice is worth reading.)

Compassion Fatigue -- Similar to PTSD

Oprah.com looks at the growing condition of "compassion fatigue" -- something experienced by many nurses, but also by people caring for loved ones.

Unlike burnout, which is caused by everyday work stresses (dealing with insurance companies, making treatment choices), compassion fatigue results from taking on the emotional burden of a patient's agony.

In a way, it's similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, except that the stress is a reaction to the trauma of another. As with PTSD, symptoms include irritability, disturbed sleep, outbursts of anger, intrusive thoughts, and a desire to avoid anything having to do with the patient's struggle.

Read more here.