post traumatic stress disorder

(New York City Health Department) Lower Manhattan residents developed post-traumatic stress disorder at three times the usual rate in the years following 9/11.

The rate among residents matched the rate previously reported among rescue and recovery workers.

WASHINGTON -- A Department of Veterans Affairs psychologist told senators Wednesday that cost cutting was not the reason she urged fellow clinicians at the Temple, Texas, Veterans Affairs hospital to "refrain from" diagnosing veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The number of U.S. troops diagnosed by the military with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) jumped nearly 50 percent in 2007 over the previous year, as more of them served lengthy and repeated combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon data released yesterday show.

The physician in charge of the post-traumatic stress disorder program at a medical facility for veterans in Texas told staff members to refrain from diagnosing PTSD because so many veterans were seeking government disability payments for the condition.

About 300,000 U.S. military personnel who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression, a mental toll that will cost the nation as much as $6.2 billion over two years, according to a Rand Corp. report released yesterday.

Post traumatic stress disorder is commonly thought to effect victims of major trauma and those who witness violence, but a new University of Georgia study finds that it also can effect children who have lost a parent expectedly to diseases such as cancer.The finding, scheduled to be published in the May issue of the journal Research on Social Work Practice, has major implications for helping children cope with grief, said lead author Rene Searles McClatchey.

Individuals who experience military combat obviously endure extreme stress, and this exposure leaves many diagnosed with the psychiatric condition of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

PTSD is associated with several abnormalities in brain structure and function.