stars & disk

Bird & Flags

text

ABOUT PTSD

• PTSD can occur after a traumatic event like

combat, assault or disaster. While stress is 

common after a trauma, for those with PTSD 

reactions such as reliving an event in their 

mind and feeling distant or angry do not go 

away over time, and can even get worse.

• While PTSD can affect people who have

experienced a wide range of life-threatening events, in Veterans the condition is 

commonly associated with combat trauma. 

It has taken a significant toll on many war 

Veterans who currently use VA health care, 

including Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans. 

Military sexual assault or harassment can 

also lead to PTSD.

• PTSD also occurs after other types

of trauma including terrorist attacks; 

serious accidents such as car wrecks; and 

natural disasters, such as fires, tornadoes, 

hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes. 

• The disorder can lead to distressing

and persistent symptoms, including 

re-experiencing the trauma through 

flashbacks or nightmares; emotional 

numbness; insomnia; relationship 

problems; sudden anger; and drug and 

alcohol abuse. 

VA RESEARCH ON P TSD: 

OVERVIEW

• VA has a continuing commitment to fund

efforts to understand, prevent, and treat 

PTSD. The wide-ranging nature of current 

PTSD research includes studies of Veterans 

at large, subgroups of Veterans, families, 

and couples. Veterans of all eras are 

included in these studies.

• Ongoing studies range from investigations of the genetic or biochemical foundations of the disorder to evaluations of new 

or existing treatments.

• VA’s National Center for PTSD (NCPTSD) is

a world leader in research and education 

programs focusing on PTSD and other 

psychological and mental consequences 

of traumatic stress. It currently consists of 

seven VA academic centers of excellence 

across the United States, with headquarters 

in White River Junction, Vermont.

• In 2013, VA and the Department of

Defense (DoD) announced that the two 

departments together were committing 

more than $100 million to fund two new 

consortia aimed at improving diagnosis 

and treatment of PTSD and mild traumatic 

brain injury. These organizations are 

bringing together leading scientists and 

researchers throughout the nation, and 

are part of VA and DoD’s response to an 

executive order to improve access to PTSD 

services for Veterans, service members, 

and military families.

SELECTED MILESTONES AND 

MA JOR EVENTS 

1989 – Created the National Center for 

PTSD to address the needs of Veterans and 

other trauma survivors with PTSD

2007 – Confirmed the value of prolonged 

exposure therapy as a treatment for 

women Veterans with PTSD

2013 – Funded, along with the 

Department of Defense (DoD), two 

consortia to improve treatment for PTSD 

and mild TBI

2014 – Found that cognitive 

processing therapy (CPT) delivered via 

videoteleconferencing is as effective for 

PTSD as in-person therapy 

2014 – Found that Veterans who sought 

and received care soon after the end of 

their service had lower rates of PTSD than 

those who waited to get treatment 

RECENT STUDIES: SELECTED 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Four specific RNA molecules were

found at lower-than-normal levels in 

Veterans who had TBIs along with PTSD 

by researchers at the James J. Peters VA 

Medical Center in the Bronx and VA’s WarRelated Illness and Injury Study Center in 

East Orange, N.J. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, 

is a nucleic acid present in all living cells. Its 

VA research on 

POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)

In earlier wars, it was called “soldier’s heart,” “shell shock,” 

or “combat fatigue.” Today, clinicians recognize the issues 

described by each of these terms as a distinct medical 

condition called posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. 

(Continued on back)

Photo: Sgt. Pete Thibodeau
stars & disk

Bird & Flags

text

The wide-ranging nature of current PTSD research includes 

studies of Veterans at large, subgroups of Veterans, families, 

and couples. Veterans of all eras are included in these studies.

main role is to act as a messenger carrying instructions from DNA for controlling the synthesis of proteins. The molecules are known by the designations 

ACA48, U35, U55, and U83A. Veterans 

with only PTSD had significantly lower 

levels of only the U55 RNA molecule, 

and Veterans who only had a TBI and 

not PTSD had normal levels of all four 

molecules The team hopes that their 

findings will eventually result in a simple 

blood test to help diagnose the two 

issues in Veterans. (American Journal of 

Neurodegenerative Disease, December 

2014)

• PTSD symptoms can be significantly 

improved in Veterans who receive 

prompt mental health care.

Researchers at the San Francisco VA 

Medical Center found that Iraq and 

Afghanistan Veterans who sought and 

received care soon after the end of 

their service had lower levels of PTSD a 

year after they initiated care. For each 

year that a Veteran waited to initiate 

treatment, there was about a 5 percent 

increase in the odds of PTSD symptoms 

either not improving, or worsening. 

(Psychiatric Services, Dec. 1, 2014)

• Receiving psychotherapy and related 

services remotely can have positive 

effects on rural Veterans with PTSD. A 

study at three VA medical centers looked 

at 266 Veterans, half of whom received 

care at either their local communitybased outpatient clinic or their nearest 

VA medical center. The other half 

received cognitive processing therapy 

through an interactive video hookup 

with psychologists based at the medical 

center. They also received calls from 

nurse managers and pharmacists and 

had psychiatric consultations via video 

chat. Participants in the telemedicine 

group were much more likely to engage 

in care for their PTSD and showed larger 

decreases in their symptoms. (JAMA 

Psychiatry,January 2015)

• Veterans with a combination of 

PTSD, depression, and militaryrelated TBI had the greatest 

difficulties of all Iraq and Afghanistan 

Veterans in getting around, 

communicating and getting along with 

others, self-care, and accomplishing 

other daily tasks. According to 

researchers with VA’s Transactional 

Research Center for TBI and Stress 

Disorders (TRACTS), many Iraq and 

Afghanistan Veterans require highly 

integrative treatment approaches, 

and their health problems need to 

be dealt with in a comprehensive 

and coordinated manner. (Journal of 

Traumatic Stress, February 2015)

• Women who serve in combat are 

at the same risk of developing PTSD 

as men, according to VA researchers 

and researchers with the University 

of California, San Francisco. The study 

looked at more than 2,300 pairs of 

men and women deployed to Iraq 

and Afghanistan who were matched 

based on variables such as combat 

exposure, age, race, military occupation, 

marital status, and pay grade. After 

following the pairs for an average of 

seven years, the research team found 

that 6.7 percent of the women and 

6.1 percent of the men in the study 

developed PTSD. The difference was 

not statistically significant. (Journal of 

Psychiatric Research, September 2015)

• According to VA’s HealthVIEWS 

study of women Veterans, 20.1 

percent of women who served in 

Vietnam have developed PTSD either 

during or after their service. By contrast, 

11.5 percent of those who served near 

Vietnam, and 14.1 percent of those 

who served in the United States have 

developed PTSD at some time during 

their lives. The results suggest that 

the mental health effects of Vietnamera service among women Veterans 

are long lasting. (JAMA Psychiatry,

November 2015)

For more information on VA studies 

on PTSD and other key topics relating 

to Veterans’ health, please visit 

www.research.va.gov/topics.

POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

Updated September 2016 • For a digital version of this fact sheet with active links to sources, visit www.research.va.gov/topics