Word: ptsd
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...people haunted consciously or unconsciously by painful memories, there may be hope. Roger Pitman, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard medical school, is working to understand post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The syndrome, he believes, is the result of brain chemicals reinforcing themselves in a cerebral vicious circle. "In the aftermath of a traumatic event," he says, "you tend to think more about it, and the more you think about it, the more likely you are to release further stress hormones, and the more likely they are to act to make the memory of that event even stronger...
...ideas, but there are only a few bits of hard evidence so far to support it. One bit comes from Israel: researchers found that of people who showed up at emergency rooms after traumatic events, those admitted with the fastest heartbeats had the highest risk of later developing PTSD. Another is the surprising fact that after an accident there's a much higher rate of PTSD in those with paraplegia (paralysis of the lower body) than in those who suffer quadriplegia (paralysis of all four limbs). "It doesn't make any psychological sense," says Pitman. But it makes physiological sense...
...some of them propranolol, a drug that interferes with adrenaline uptake. The rest got placebos. He also had them tape-record accounts of the traumas. When he played back the tapes eight months later, eight of 14 placebo patients developed higher heart rates, sweaty palms and other signs of PTSD. None of the patients on the real drug had such responses...
...filing includes an affidavit from a psychiatrist who said that he apparently is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, or PTSD, and cannot adequately assist his own lawyers in preparing his legal defense. According to the psychiatrist's affidavit in the court filing: "When approached by his attorneys, he begs them, 'please, please, please' not to have to discuss his case." The psychiatrist also reported that Padilla "refuses to watch the videos of his interrogation and he refuses to answer questions pertaining to aspects of the evidence in his case...
...PTSD can manifest as alcoholism, disregard for one's health and deteriorating relationships. Nightmares may plague the miners, says disaster expert Raphael, as might survivor guilt connected with the death of their colleague, Larry Knight, 44, who was operating the machine to which Webb and Russell's cage was attached. And while their ordeal could yield lucrative media deals, they'll have to come to grips with forever being known as the two blokes who were stuck in the mine. When hauled out of the darkness, Webb and Russell will face a new world...