Is PTSD research sufficient?

With the grim news of the mass shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, we're reminded that some of our nation's soldiers suffer wounds of war that aren't immediately visible to the naked eye.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who allegedly perpetrated the attack, served in the Department of Psychology at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Bethesda Naval Facility in Maryland before he transferred to Fort Hood, where he likely would have treated numerous soldiers who had been deployed to war zones in Afghanistan or Iraq.

While the motives of the massacre remain unclear for the moment, post traumatic stress disorder was clearly a part of Hasan's professional history, and it's conceivable that his experiences with PTSD could have played a role in breeding the psychological state that precipitated this tragedy.

ClinicalTrials.gov lists 334 trials involving PTSD that are either completed, planned, or are currently on-going.

But is there enough research focused on the causes, treatment, and biology of PTSD at the moment? Should federal funding agencies or drug makers be devoting more resources to study of the disorder?

Bob Grant -- Associate Editor, The Scientist

Are you delusional or just a polictically correct liberal, PTSD? This guy is clearly a domestic terrorist.

The guy was never deployed. I would call it SJS (sudden jihad syndrome), something the PC lame-stream media refuses to consider.

How quickly we supposed scientists (see prior comments of Karen and Sandy) make our judgements! A large number of people died and/or were injured, and I think we owe it to them to try to hold back on the prejudice until we see some facts.

Interesting that none of the truly traumatized patients he saw ever felt a need to shoot up their
fellow soldiers.

There is absolutely not enough research on PTSD, and federal funds should absolutely be allocated to treat it, especially for military veterans who develop the problem while serving their country. PTSD in military personnel has risen to alarming rates, and suicide rates in veterans are at all time highs. President Bush's Council on bioethics actually opposed several PTSD treatments and research into their effectiveness. Veterans often dont exhibit symptoms for 3-5 years after their return and often dont understand whats happening to them. In addition, the VA is understaffed and overrun with veterans who need and want help. I am aware of one case where a veteran who survived a suicide attempt initiated by his PTSD had to wait over a week for a bed to open up for him in a VA facility for treatment of his PTSD. What is more sad is individuals who have not been exposed to PTSD or know a veteran who has been affected dont understand the disorder, the affect it can have on peoples lives, and what it encompasses. In response to Sandy and Karen, I dont think enough information has been disclosed to determine if this guy has PTSD or not, and you dont have to see active combat to be dramatically effected by PTSD. I think the situation is incredibly complicated, I think its absolutely horrible, and I think he obviously had some sort of mental issue (PTSD or not). I think its ignorant to assume his actions have anything to do with islamic extremism given the limited information available to the public. Until more is known conclusions cant be drawn about his state or motives.

If jihad was his motivation, Major Hasan would have had a much greater destructive potential deployed near a combat zone. If freedom from military life was his motive, spending years if not his life in prison for murder seems a poor solution. The idea that his counseling duties had a causal effect on his behavior I'm sure many will debate. Until more information is available, an analogy to an angry frustrated employee wreaking havoc on his working environment appears to be a better fit.

No, not Sudden Jihad Syndrome. It is obviously PPTSD - Pre Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Pre-PTSD. I think some journalist just made that up today.

The man was a psychiatrist, and there are plenty of studies showing that psychiatrists as a group have more mental health issues than doctors do. Specifically, more psychiatrists than other doctors suicide.

To answer the question - yes and no. There seems to be a lot of work being done that assumes that PTSD exists as a specific, identifiable condition from which there might be treatments which would benefit, or might benefit, someone diagnosed with it. However, it is far from clear that this is the case - there may not be any such condition, and if there is, it may not be as prevalent as some have suggested. There do not seem to be too many research projects looking at that.

Regarding the specific situation at Fort Hood, this is going to turn out to be something very complex. I see a man that has been able to keep it together, but only just, within an environment he was used to, but disliked. I find it difficult to believe that he would not have been on the receiving end of remarks about his religion and loyalty, especially in light of dressing in Middle Eastern-style clothes when he went shopping, for instance. However, the possibility of having to go to a combat zone where he would be fighting members of a group he clearly identifies with, and the likelihood that he would be under pressure from both sides could well have tipped him over the edge.

Rather than intending to go to prison, this looks to me as a variation on "suicide by cop", foiled by either very good (aimed to incapacitate, and succeeded), or very bad (aimed to kill, and didn't), shooting by the soldier that brought him down.

I appreciate the thoughtful remarks by most posters. Sandy and Karen are simplistic, ignorant and clueless about how "pc lame media" think. Don't they "think" most thoughtful and/or liberal women and men are deeply disturbed by the institutional repression of women and minorities in cultures that are also mainly Muslim? I as a liberal Jew am very fearful of the jihadist mentality and radical violence of these groups. Nonetheless, we also are able to stop and wait for facts, and can defer the gratification of the flippant conclusion. I'm just sayin'....

I get a disturbing feeling that the so-called PSTD is being invoked to provide "extenuating circumstances" for Major Nidal Malik Hasan's shooting spree. (Or, is it the other way around: Hasan's behaviour is being used to argue that PSTD is real?) If the purpose of this discussion is to explain Hasan's behaviour, PSTD should not be the only factor considered. Karen has pointed out, "The guy was never deployed." Therefore, PSTD cannot be really invoked. Or, because Hasan has been counseling people said to be suffering from PSTD, one can invoke "second hand PSTD", in analogy with exposure to exhaled tobacco smoke.
One cannot ignore Jihad as a possible motive, especially after learning a bit about his personal traits: for example (please see Jeremy's post) that he was in the habit of "dressing in Middle Eastern-style clothes when he went shopping, for instance". A story in WorldNetDaily (at http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=115218 ) also points to "Jihad" as the motive. At the same time, I fervently hope that Jihad was not the motive, because the implications are too horrific for the WHOLE WORLD, not just USA.

Upon opening my mail today, I was very surprised in finding this PTSD article included in The Scientist. The event had and will continue to have its horrors and speculations. Hasan had obviously planned the murder of Army troops ready to ship out to one of the wars in which the U.S. is participating. It could only have been the act of a desperate personality wanting to make a statement regarding the role of the United States in the two wars currently waged in nations that are clearly defined as Moslim nations. Hasan openly portrayed his preference to be known as Moslim. Why the Army put up with this known preference and his openly speaking against the participation of the U.S. in those wars baffles common sense. I believe I would have drummed the guy out long ago as a misfit and a danger to military personnel rather than continue with the political correctness that has, unfortunately, become part of the military doctrine. It is a horror in itself that politics have been embedded in our military organization.
Eric Olsen

The military often subjects those being deployed to additional vaccines before departure. Did he get vaccinated? Which vaccines were used? Could these have anyting to do with this act?

It would seem that the author here is this discussion is trying to connect two unrelated events. However, in answer to his question on PTSD I believe much more discussion is needed.

First, PTSD is a secondary condition. It is usually a secondary stress response to longer term or chronic neurological, mental health, and physicial challenges. We typically hear of it post combat. But it is equally found in children of broken homes and violence. It is also found in chronic illness. I suffered some effects after a brain injury and repeated shunt surgeries, and all the challenges this mess posed to me.

PTSD also is associated with a number of specific neurlogical and/or mental health sequela. Perhaps the most notable are sensory disorders (hyper responses to sound and visual stimuli), sleeplessness, irritibility, and stress induced health and physicial disorders.

Sadly, modern medicine is yet to find a successful treatment to PTSD, mostly due to it stems from a variety of causes. Certainly counseling and antidepressants can help, but the latter can similarly cause additional issues for users. Proper integration into work and family is key, and I have found a lot of success thru music and art therapy, and particularly, group drumming or drum circles. I undertook a 2002 study on sensory integration that found that audible therapies like group drumming could help arrest sensory integration disorder. The issue at stake is exposure to repetitive or unsyncopated sound and environmental noise. I believe this expose also holds keys to learning in noisy school and work settings.

Here's the link to this study:
http://www.diaceph.com/NeuroCompensStudy.htm

Stephen Dolle

What about that eye movement therapy? I understand it is very helpful for PTSD.

debTS336286 wrote:What about that eye movement therapy? I understand it is very helpful for PTSD.

You really need visual, audible, and cognitive to desensatize and help refocus these pathways. EMDR therapy found some success with a combination of visual and audible. Patients also have to come to understand and prevent/manage "triggers" and events around them that can set off sequela. Over time, the cumulative benefit of all of the above can provide relief, but life needs to go on and it is key to reintegrate the patient with life, family, social, and work activities. It's a delicate balance and each patient and case is different depending a lot on the underlying illness/issue that caused the PTSD.

Stephen