06.27.16 PTSD Awareness Month and Studies Being Conducted at Fort Hood

June is national PTSD Awareness Month” and June 27 is “PTSD Awareness Day."

Combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the signature injuries resulting from more than a decade of military operations in and around Iraq and Afghanistan. Studies suggest that approximately 14% of U.S. military personnel returning from post-9-11 deployments have PTSD symptoms and as many as 25% report at least one psychological health problem. That means that hundreds of thousands of Americans may need help recovering from the psychological wounds of war.

Dr. Katy Dondanville is with the federally funded STRONG STAR Consortium and the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD, which together comprise the world’s largest group conducting research aimed at improving prevention, diagnosis and treatment for PTSD and related conditions, and is the only one capable of conducting large clinical trials with active duty military.

STRONG STAR has provided state-of-the-art clinical assessments and treatment to over 6,000 post-9-11 service members, most of them at Fort Hood. STRONG STAR also has several studies currently recruiting participants at Fort Hood.

PTSD-related treatment studies at Fort Hood:

• EXERCISE AND PTSD TREATMENT – Evaluating whether exercise added as a supplement to PTSD therapy helps to improve patients’ symptoms.

• ADJUSTING LENGTH OF THERAPY TO MEET INDIVIDUALS’ NEEDS – Assessing the effectiveness of a leading PTSD talk therapy when treatment length is adjusted to fit the individual needs of service members.

• TREATING PTSD AND SLEEP DISORDERS – Testing ways of treating people with sleep disorders, such as insomnia and nightmares. Sleep disorders are some of the most commonly reported symptoms of people with PTSD.

• GROUP COUPLES’ THERAPY FOR PTSD – Bringing couples together off-post during a weekend retreat for a couple-based group intervention addressing PTSD, partners’ psychological health and the relationship.

Contact information to learn about participation in these studies:

Phone: 254-288-1638

email: FortHood@strongstar.org

Website: www.strongstar.org/treatment