Predicting long-term outcomes of Iraq War deployment – Vasterling et al.

by ISTSS Blogs | Sep 9, 2023 | JOTS Highlights, Military and Combat

Wars may end, but the mental health ramifications of stressful war-zone exposure can endure for many years for some military personnel and veterans. Identification of risk and resilience factors that differentiate the long-term course of posttraumatic stress disorder...

A new perspective on the brain basis of PTSD in Veterans involves alterations in both fear and anxiety networks – Feola & Blackford

by ISTSS Blogs | Sep 1, 2023 | Clinical Issues and Treatment, JOTS Highlights, Military and Combat

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common, disabling disorder that significantly impacts many combat Veterans. Research estimates that 15-23% of the soldiers returning from deployment in Afghanistan have PTSD (Fulton et al., 2015). The rate of PTSD in Veterans...

Military matters: Emerging hormone-based pharmacological treatments for comorbid PTSD and alcohol use in ‎veterans: An update on science ‎ – MacKenzie R. Peltier, PhD, Terril L. Verplaetse, PhD, Sherry McKee, PhD, and Ismene Petrakis, MD

by ISTSS Blogs | Jun 28, 2023 | Military and Combat, StressPoints

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) commonly co-occur among ‎veterans.1,2 PTSD is related to increased alcohol use3,4 and hazardous alcohol use increases following combat ‎exposure.5,6 This reciprocal relationship contributes to...

What is the psychological impact of suicide exposure among active duty service members? – Schmied, Walter, Glassman, Jun, & Pippard

by ISTSS Blogs | Apr 3, 2023 | JOTS Highlights, Military and Combat

Despite concerted prevention efforts, military suicide rates have risen for more than a decade (Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center [AFHSC], 2014; Psychological Health Center of Excellence [PHCoE], 2020). While many risk and protective factors for suicide have...

Military Matters: Veteran Psychotherapy and the Use of Military Metaphor – Kenneth J. Thompson, PhD

by ISTSS Blogs | Mar 30, 2023 | Military and Combat, StressPoints

The use of military metaphor in the health sciences has been a topic of recurrent interest and debate for several decades. In that time, writers have decried how “wars” against such scourges as cancer, drugs, and, more recently the COVID-19 pandemic, can...

Military Matters: Not All Traumas are Created Equal: Phenotypic Heterogeneity of PTSD Symptoms in Relation to Index Traumas in U.S. Military Veterans – Lorig K. Kachadourian, Or Duek, Ilan Harpaz-Rotem, Robert H. Pietrzak

by ISTSS Blogs | Dec 15, 2022 | Military and Combat, StressPoints

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is prevalent in military veterans and is associated with reduced mental and physical health functioning as well as overall quality of life (e.g., Hoge, Auchterlonie, & Milliken, 2006; Hoge et al., 2007; Pietrzak et al., 2013)....