Fort Campbell works to address post-traumatic stress disorder, common ailment of Afghanistan-Iraq veterans

Research shows almost 14 percent of veterans returning home from Iraq and Afganistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and as an estimated 2 million veterans are coming home, Fort Campbell has quickly acted by reaching out to the medical community in Kentucky to help address the challenges of PTSD.

Top behavioral health and brain injury research experts came to Ft. Campbell on Tuesday to teach civilian behavioral health professionals about the military's current PTSD and brain injury research and treatments, reports Kristin Hall of The Associated Press.

PTSD can be one of war's ugly side effect, and it is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event in which ther's potential for grave physical harm, such as "violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, and military combat," says the National Institute of Mental Health. Not properly treating PTSD symptoms can lead to alcohol or drug use, spouse or child abuse, depression or suicide

The clinics at Ft. Campbell will focus on PTSD and brain trauma treatment and will each have 13 mental health professionals to offer more personalized, focused care, which is expected to reduce "cases of psychiatric problems, spouse or child abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, suicides and drug use," like the pilot program at Fort Carson in Colorado, reports Adam Ghassemi of News Channel 5.

Some Kentucky veterans, like Mike Jeffrey who spoke about his physical and mental battles after his two tours in Iraq at a Veteran's Recognition Program, are addressing other problems associated with PTSD, which are that many veterans won't talk about it, and they both families and veterans lack awareness about treatment options. Jeffrey talked about the struggles he had when returning home and his "baby steps" toward normalcy.

“I woke up and had kicked down my apartment doors overnight without knowing it,” he said. “It was hell just living with myself,” reported Tracy Harris of The News Democrat. Jeffrey started counseling for his PTSD and is now using a service dog trained specifically for veterans, Seal Team.

“Seal Team is his security blanket,” said Jeffrey's wife, Shelly, who contacted four service dog organizations before finding K-9 trainer Mike Halley, a Vietnam veteran living in Florida, reports Harris. In addition to suggesting use of a service dog, Jeffrey said veterans shouldn't bury their own experience with PTSD, which many are reluctant to talk about.

“We all grew up in the suck-it-up-and-drive Army,” he said. “But you can only suck it up for so long,” said Jeffrey.

Efforts like the ones made by Ft. Campbell and Mike Jeffrey represent progress in treatment of mental health issues. And while these efforts alone won't address the problem, work within local communities can make a world of difference for struggling veterans.

Retired Maj. Gen. Mark Graham said "there is no quick way to eliminate the stigma often attached to seeking out mental health care, but the key is partnerships with the communities," writes Hall.

The story of returning veteran's is a big one that may be hard to cover, so click here for journalism tips. Click here to learn more about PTSD programs in Kentucky, or click the link below to watch news coverage about the behavioral health clinics in Ft. Campbell.

Ft. Campbell Opens Behavioral Health Clinics To Fight PTSD - NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & Sports

New, 4-volume veterans' health handbook reflects UK expertise

It is not just about post-traumatic stress and re-entry into the job market anymore, as if it ever was. In topics as diverse as how to best get electronic medical records to how to treat the severely injured who would not have survived earlier wars, The Praeger Handbook of Veterans Health: History, Challenges, Issues and Developments has plumbed the expertise of 65 professionals -- many with ties to the University of Kentucky -- to teach anyone who cares how it's done.

Mary Meehan of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports that the editor of the four-volume set is Dr. Thomas Miller, professor emeritus and senior research scientist in psychiatry at UK, who began working on the handbook in 2006. The book makes wide use of Miller's many decades of work with veterans as well his network of experts from other countries.
 
 Miller told the Herald-Leader that he hopes the book will not only show people the scope of services available and how to get the help they need, but help shape the future of veteran care and by extension health care in the United States. The set is designed as a resource for libraries, health care offices and universities. It is available at online bookstores for $257. (Read more)

Three of four UK's research professorships fund work in health

Three of the four University of Kentucky research professorships awarded for the 2012-13 school year will fund health-related work. Each award is worth $40,000.

Mark Filmore, right, who teaches in UK's Department of Psychology, will research the role that cognitive processes have in promoting risk-taking behavior. It will have an emphasis on recreational drug use, including alcohol abuse and dependence.

Douglas Andres, left, professor and vice chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry,  "had begun to define the molecular pathways that control adult neurogenesis, and have shown that Rit, a Ras family G-protein, plays a critical role in the survival of newborn adult neurons following traumatic brain injury," a press release reads. If that is the case, strategies that target Rit activation may be effective in helping recover or repair the injury.

In the Department of Internal Medicine, Mark Dignan, right, leads a program that focuses on cancer prevention and control in community settings using community-based participatory methods. Using the funds of his professorship, he plans to expand his training, "allowing him to conduct translational research with teams that include basic and clinical scientists as they continue their work to reduce cancer health disparities," the press release reads.

Christopher Pool, professor in the Department of Anthropology, is the fourth professorship recipient. (Read more)

Caregivers of wounded soldiers find their lives are also changed; getting compensation

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan disproportionately affect rural areas, which provide more than the average number of recruits. The soldiers who make it home alive come back changed, with traumatic brain damage, post-traumatic stress syndrome or other injuries that require full-time care. Mostly wives and older parents are left bearing the burden.

Catrin Einhorn of The New York Times reports that many caregivers have to quit their jobs and are forced to spend their savings and retirement funds to pay for treatment. A growing number of caregivers suffer from anxiety, depression and exhaustion as a result of their new routines. Rosie Babin, 51-year-old mother of a severely wounded 22-year-old son, was managing an accounting office before her son's injury. Though she's happy to have her son home alive, she now has to take blood-pressure medicine and sleeping pills. "I felt like I went from this high-energy, force-to-be-reckoned-with businesswoman to a casualty of war," Babin told Einhorn. "And I was working furiously at not feeling like a victim of war."

According to research by Joan Griffin, a research investigator with the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System, most of the injured are in their 20s and 30s, making this the first time since Vietnam the V.A. has seen such an influx of youth, which extending the length of care to years and sometimes decades. On average, Griffin found that family members spend more than 40 hours a week providing care, making it nearly impossible for them to keep a job.

Organizations like the Wounded Warrior Project have tried to ease the financial burden on these families by lobbying Congress to provide direct compensation and other benefits to caregivers and their families. In 2010, the veteran's agency approved 1,222 applications and awarded monthly stipends of $1,600 to $1,800 to caregivers. Along with the money, they can receive health insurance and counseling, Einhorn reports. This law only applies to caregivers of service members injured after Sept. 11, 2001, and it's uncertain who will qualify and how compensation will be determined.
(Read more)

Fort Campbell using simulated battlefields to assess brain injuries

Doctors at Fort Campbell are using a mock battlefield to assess whether or not soldiers who have suffered a traumatic brain injury are ready to return to combat. The clinic has been recognized by the Department of Defense as a national model.

"Soldiers are making life and death decisions, so doesn't it make sense to use demonstrated competence as the standard for returning someone to duty?" Dr. David Twillie told National Public Radio's Blake Farmer.

In exercises meant to simulate scenarios they face when fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers sweep a gravel road for possible roadside bombs, take fire from insurgents and are told to insert chest tubes and tie tourniquets while listening to sound from a scene in Saving Private Ryan. The goal is to assess how well the soldiers handle the stress of the situations. Patients must also take written tests that assess their competence. The combination of both simulated and written assessments is important.

"Very recently we had a soldier that had a desire to stay in, had done well in all our simulations," Twillie said. "But when all the different sights, sounds, smells came back, he just wasn't able to change his focus, and that's very important in combat."

Memory loss, mood swings and difficulties balancing are common symptoms of a traumatic brain injury. About 115,000 soldiers have experienced such an injury, the Defense Department estimates. (Read more)