(August 2, 2006)—Baylor University researcher Dr. Brad Keele, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, is beginning a new study of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a condition that affects about eight percent of the US population, but which more than 30 percent of the veterans of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq are at risk of developing.

The study is aimed at providing new data that could be used as the basis for the development of new drug treatments for the disorder.

“PTSD is one of the most difficult disorders to treat,” Keele said.

“It is a debilitating disorder and can lead to a wide range of other problems – from mood disorders to alcoholism.”

“The results of these experiments will give us important information…which could ultimately lead to specifically targeted therapeutic drugs for PTSD treatment,” Keele said.

The announcement of the study came on the same day as the publication of a new study of Iraq war veterans that underscores concerns about PTSD.

More than 600 soldiers participated in the study by taking mental function tests before going to Iraq, and again after returning home.

The results show those veterans are more likely than other American troops to suffer mild memory and attention lapses now that they're back, but they also tend to have better reaction time.

Researchers say their findings could reflect the normal changes in a transition from the battlefield to the home front, but they also warn if certain changes persist, there's concern about soldiers
developing problems like post-traumatic stress disorder.

The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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