In past blogs, I’ve looked at how to help alleviate stress symptoms and how stress can affect the body, but we haven’t yet talked about who develops traumatic symptoms. It is well known that people don’t react to stressors the same way. When faced with a potentially traumatic event, why do some people develop trauma […]
Suicide and Veterans: A Call for Treatment
During times of war, we’re unfortunately conditioned to expect some causalities. But what isn’t expected are deaths that occur later from suicide. How can we explain the deaths of veterans who survive combat, but then commit suicide after their return? Tamera Coyne-Beasley, MD, MPH presented findings at the Pediatric Academic Societies May 2010 annual meeting […]
When Diagnosis Creates Trauma
It was an ordinary, sunny Sunday in January just over five years ago that would change our lives forever. . . On a walk with Christine Huda, NICABM’s Executive Director and my long-time partner, we were discussing the fact that she’d been having trouble talking recently. “You’ll see your physician tomorrow,” was my response. The […]
How the Brain Helps Us to Survive Trauma
New research into brain science has shown that neuroplasticity, or the changing of the brain, is possible. But the downside is that negative experiences also affect the brain. Scientists have known that stress can alter the brain’s structure, but the specifics of these changes have not yet been found. A new study out of the […]
PTSD and Dementia
Here’s a worrisome finding. Having a diagnosis of PTSD is positively associated with an increased risk of developing dementia. According to a recent study published in Alzheimers and Dementia Kristine Yaffe, MD, from the University of California San Francisco led a group of researchers as they tracked over 180,000 veterans aged 55 and older from […]
What “Shell Shock” Taught us about Treating PTSD
Back in World War I when we were trying to treat soldiers experiencing “shell shock” (later known as PTSD), a new profession known as Occupational Therapy was founded. The thought at that time was that these shell shocked soldiers would find relief quicker by doing something rather than just talking about their experiences. Hmm. It […]
Stress and Cancer
We know that stress is unhealthy, but does it have any impact on cancer? A new study in The Journal of Clinical Investigation looked at the effect that chronic stress had on ovarian cancer patients. Anil Sood, MD and his colleagues at the University of Texas implanted ovarian cancer cells into mice and then exposed […]
Hypnosis and Trauma
Every day I turn on the news and see reports of violence somewhere. . . . it may be armed conflicts in the Middle East or Africa. . . . it may be child or domestic abuse here at home. As a psychologist, my next thought is how to treat the mental anguish that must […]
Getting ready for PTSD
In case you haven’t already heard, April is National Stress Awareness Month. Why do we as a nation spend an entire month on this topic? Because we need to. Just to put the insidiousness of stress into perspective, here are a few statistics from the American Psychological Association: Highly stressed teenagers are twice as likely […]
Who the Hell do you think you are? – Bill O’Hanlon Guest Blog
Some years ago I met Michael White, the now departed co-founder of Narrative Therapy. Soon after, his star rose rather quickly and he became a very well known teacher and writer. But all was not well in Australia, his home country. As Michael traveled around the world, his colleagues at home began to make snide […]