Marijuana is legal in Colorado, but vets there still can't use it to treat their PTSD

Now here's a disconnect. Marijuana is legal in Colorado, but vets there who try to use it to treat their PTSD symptoms could lose all of their VA medical benefits. A bill could have fixed that, but it was rejected by the legislature.

Read more...

Veterans Suffering from PTSD Denied Access to Marijuana in Colorado

Vets from Vietnam still haunted by (undiagnosed) PTSD

PTSD wasn't a term 40, 50 or 60 years ago. That doesn't mean it didn't exist.

"There was no awareness of PTSD and there was not a specific diagnosis
for it," Ruohomaki says. "Now, the older veterans are reaching out for
help."

Read more:

Undiagnosed a generation ago, PTSD still haunts older vets -- DailyHerald.com

Yoga can help reduce PTSD symptoms

We've discussed this several times before: yoga can be a great way to help reduce PTSD symptoms. Now a new study (specifically of women) once again proves this. Reuters reports:

"Simply stated, yoga may regulate aspects of the
endocrine system and the nervous system that are out of balance in
PTSD," Staples said. "Yoga also reduces the stress response which plays a
role in PTSD symptoms."

Read more:

Yoga may help women ease PTSD symptoms | Reuters

First Lady supports hiring veterans [Video]

First Lady Michelle Obama appeared on David Letterman's program last night, where she reported that unemployment among veterans has decreased 20% in the past year.

Letterman himself mentioned that some employers might be frightened of hiring veterans, especially those with PTSD. She replied that it's important not to stigmatize PTSD.



Here's more on the Obama administration's Joining Forces program.

Do you find this blog helpful? Please consider a donation to Fearless Nation PTSD Support so we can continue to bring you news and information about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

UK PTSD rate lower than US

British soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have displayed a lower rate of PTSD than American soldiers. Why? For one thing, their UK soldiers were, on average, older than the American soldiers. There were also fewer UK reservists and UK soldiers served shorter tours of duty.

Time has more on this subject:

Why Is the UK’s PTSD Rate So Much Lower Than the U.S.’s?

Delayed trauma: PTSD decades later

Stars and Stripes reports that a major life event like retirement can cause decades-old traumas to come to the surface, creating anxiety, anger and other PTSD-related symptoms. In particular, this is starting to affect some Vietnam vets who did not get proper treatment when they returned from war.

Mental health experts say...delayed trauma isn’t unusual. Major life events such as retirement often trigger personal reassessment and forgotten memories.

But for Vietnam veterans who returned decades ago to a harsh reception and limited mental health options, that could mean a new wave of stress and serious psychological issues as their generation enters retirement age.

Many of these Vietnam veterans (who are now approaching retirement age en masse) threw themselves into their work when they returned from the war as their way of coping with their trauma. As their work lives end, the untreated trauma is now becoming an issue.

Stars and Stripes reports that the VA is not yet prepared to deal with the thousands of new requests for treatment they could receive in the next few years.

Read more:

Retirement might unleash PTSD symptoms in Vietnam veterans

PTSD linked to urinary incontinence in female veterans

A new study finds that female veterans with PTSD have a greater level of urinary incontinence than other women their ages.

This is part of a multi-year study into urinary incontinence (UI) in female veterans. The researchers wrote about the reasons for the study when it was launched in 2009: "Urogenital symptoms, including urinary incontinence and frequency, commonly affect women of reproductive age and negatively impact quality of life. Such urinary symptoms are among the top 10 problems reported to primary care providers by women."

From the abstract of this paper:

This cross-sectional study enrolled women 20 to 52 years of age registered at 2 midwestern US Veterans Affairs Medical Centers or outlying clinics within 5 years preceding study interview. Participants completed a computer-assisted telephone interview assessing urogynecologic, medical, and mental health. Multivariable analyses studied independent associations between stress and urgency UI and depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Nine hundred sixty-eight women mean aged 38.7 ± 8.7 years were included. Of these, 191 (19.7%) reported urgency/mixed UI and 183 (18.9%) stress UI. Post-traumatic stress disorder (odds ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.0–3.1) but not depression (odds ratio, 1.2; 95% confidence interval, 0.73–2.0) was associated with urgency/mixed UI. Stress UI was not associated with post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.

This research does not yet identify a reason for this increased rate, but the paper calls for additional research "to better understand the complex associations between UI and psychologic symptoms and the neurobiologic basis of urgency UI."

Read more:

PTSD linked to urinary incontinence in female veterans

National Veterans Foundation predicts "tsunami of PTSD-related criminal cases"

The National Veterans Foundation is about to release a new book that it says will help guide defense attorneys, judges, expert witnesses and others during PTSD-related criminal court proceedings.

Why is there a need for this book? From their press release: "History tells us that as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, the numbers of troubled veterans flooding into our criminal courts will swell. Emerging research reveals a pattern of traumatized combat veterans surfacing in the criminal justice system following every major American conflict. Unfortunately, veterans of past conflicts were often treated quite harshly when their psychological injuries led them into criminal behavior."

From their web page about the book: "This project was not initiated to create a 'get out of jail card' for veterans on trial. The purpose was to create the best defense and back it up with efforts to provide ongoing post-trial treatment."

The book, Attorney's Guide to Defending Veterans in Criminal Court, will be released soon and is available for the pre-publication price of $100.

What do you think? Is PTSD going to result in a lot of vets ending up in court? Is this danger over-stated? Have you been mistreated in the courts? Please feel free to share your thoughts and experience.

Join Fearless Nation PTSD Support on Facebook!

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.

Poster Girl documentary on HBO2 tonight

The Oscar-nominated short documentary "Poster Girl" airs on HBO2 tonight. Here's the trailer:



The story of Robynn Murray, an all-American high-school cheerleader turned “poster girl” for women in combat, distinguished by Army Magazine’s cover shot. Now home from Iraq, her tough-as-nails exterior begins to crack, leaving Robynn struggling with the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Shot and directed by first-time filmmaker, Sara Nesson, POSTER GIRL is an emotionally raw documentary that follows Robynn over the course of two years as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and redemption, using art and poetry to redefine her life.

Check your local listings for times, and visit the movie's official site for more information:
Poster Girl

Lisa Ling PTSD documentary airs Sunday night

Lisa Ling's excellent OWN documentary series "Our America" will look at veterans and PTSD this Sunday at 9pm (EST). She talks about it here:

Lisa Ling Talks 'Our America 

...and you can watch the first five minutes of the episode here.

Sleep disorders and PTSD

In a new study, nine in ten vets with PTSD or TBI were "hypersomniacs," meaning they were tired during the day. That's because more than half had sleep apnea and almost half had insomnia. (It's not clear if those numbers overlap.)

Interestingly, the vets with no physical injuries suffered from greater levels of sleep apnea. TBI caused by blast injuries caused higher levels of insomnia.

Read more:

Sleep disorders plague vets with head trauma or PTSD | Reuters

Study: VA clinicians not conforming to PTSD best practices

A paper in the current issue of Journal of Traumatic Stress looks at, as the title puts it, "Variation in practices and attitudes of clinicians assessing PTSD-related disability among veterans" -- and the results aren't pleasing.

According to the paper's abstract: "One hundred thirty-eight Veterans Affairs mental health professionals completed a 128-item Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Practice Inventory that asked about their practices and attitudes related to disability assessment of PTSD. Results indicate strikingly wide variation in the attitudes and practices of clinicians conducting disability assessments for PTSD. In a high percentage of cases, these attitudes and practices conflict with best-practice guidelines. Specifically, 59% of clinicians reported rarely or never using testing, and only 17% indicated routinely using standardized clinical interviews. Less than 1% of respondents reported using functional assessment scales."

The paper is behind a pay firewall, but Time discusses it here.

Another hidden cost of war: 18 U.S. vets commit suicide every day

Mother Jones pointed out yesterday that American casualties during war are way down compared to previous wars.

But that ignores the fact that our soldiers are surviving the battlefield, then coming home and committing suicide. More than 18 of them every day, on average. Read more:

Veteran suicides exceed combat deaths: 18 per day

Veterans' agencies launch free PTSD Coach iPhone app

Got PTSD? There's an app for that.

Okay, now that I got that awful joke out of my head, here's the news: The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense have teamed up to launch a free iPhone app called PTSD Coach. Intended specifically for people who are in or have served in the military, the app "provides users with education about PTSD, information about professional care, a self-assessment for PTSD, opportunities to find support, and tools that can help users manage the stresses of daily life with PTSD."

You can find more info on the app here.

US soldiers 7 times as likely as UK troops to develop PTSD

Does culture impact how you react to trauma? The UK newspaper The Independent examines the possibility that PTSD is not a universal response:

The invisible division: US soldiers are seven times as likely as UK troops to develop post-traumatic stress - Americas, World - The Independent

Could bartenders help diagnose depression and PTSD?

The old saw is that your local bartender will listen to your problems when nobody else will.

But what if they could do more than listen to your problems? What if they could provide answers?

That's the idea behind a new study published in the Journal of Military and Veterans' Health.

Let's go to the press release:


A pilot study suggests that some bartenders may be in a good position to identify veterans in need of mental health services and help connect them to the appropriate agency.

Researchers at Ohio State University surveyed 71 bartenders employed at Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in Ohio.

The results showed that bartenders felt very close to their customers and that these customers shared their problems freely with them, said Keith Anderson, lead author of the study and assistant professor of social work at Ohio State.

"Many of the bartenders said that their customers were very much like family," Anderson said.

"Given the closeness of the relationships, these bartenders are in a really great position to help these veterans – if they are given the right training and the right tools."

Of the bartenders surveyed, 73 percent said their role with their customers was "like family." And about 70 percent of the bartenders said that the veterans they interacted with "always" or "often" shared their problems with them.
Encouragingly, 80 percent of the bartenders said they would be willing to refer veterans to services at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

These results show why bartenders may be especially well-suited to help troubled veterans, Anderson said.

"We need to find the veterans where they are. Many of them may not be willing to go to a VA clinic to seek out help on their own. The VFW bartenders may be one of our best chances to reach some of these veterans," he said.

Part of this study looked into whether bartenders might already have the sensitivity to notice problems that others might not see:

About two-thirds of those surveyed rated their ability to recognize depression in their patrons as "moderate," while the remaining third rated their ability as "high."

Only 14 percent rated their ability to recognize symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder as "high" while 43 percent rated their ability as low.

Two small quibbles: 1) We hope bartenders can be trained to tell trauma to stop drinking, and 2) younger vets simply aren't joining their local VFW or American Legion these days. But if you could take this further to all bartenders, it might help make them a very good resource for people who would otherwise be drowning their sorrows.

Read the whole release about this pilot study here:

Bartenders may have role in assisting troubled war veterans

Older Vets with PTSD May Be More Prone to Dementia

According to new research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, "The incidence and prevalence of dementia is greater in veterans with PTSD."

 While the research proved no causality (in other words, it does not suggest that PTSD causes dementia), it does suggest that properly treating veterans with PTSD should include screening for the onset of dementia as they get older. As the authors write in the abstract, "Because PTSD is so common in veterans, this association has important implications for veteran care."

Lethal Warriors: New Book Examines How PTSD Turned Veterans Violent

The Atlantic magazine has an excellent review/essay about the new book Lethal Warriors, about how PTSD can make soldiers self-destruct and turn violent.

You can find out more about the book itself here: