Mental Health

Pretty amazing story from Forbes about how the friends of Sergeant Clay Hunt, who killed himself on March 31, 2011 after suffering from PTSD, developed POS REP, short for “position report,’ a mobile application that provides a location-enabled, social network exclusively for the military veteran community. While POS REP’s main purpose is to reconnect veterans who served together, its underlying significance is to connect veterans to peers and resources within their communities. They found that the current military program for preparing veterans for civilian life, the Transition Assistance Program (known as TAP among veterans), “lacks the ability to provide veterans ongoing support because it’s not local. POS REP fills such need by connecting veterans to peers in their area while allowing them to crowd source through social media”.

Fascinating research from the January 23 issue of the Cell Press journal Neuron  showing the intensely complex nature of identifying inherited genetic mutations linked with autism spectrum disorders. A quote from the article: “It’s long been known that autism is a heritable condition and that some cases appear to run in families. Our studies are among the first to begin to address this heritable component,” says Dr. Christopher Walsh of Boston Children’s Hospital, who is the senior author of one of the papers.

Facebook activity provided a window into the psychological health of participants in a study at the University of Missouri. Social media profiles could eventually be used as tools for psychologists and therapists treating mental illness, according to study leader Elizabeth Martin, doctoral student in MU’s psychological science department in the College of Arts and Science. “Therapists could possibly use social media activity to create a more complete clinical picture of a patient,” Martin said.

Really interesting piece about how high-tech digital devices, like smartphones and tablets, are assisting in the development of children with autism and special needs. Smart stuff by Rhema Thomspon of pnj.com.

If you’ve survived a type of trauma, and have PTSD, and are now in some form of recovery from its effects, chances are you’re moving at warpspeed. You could probably win the Indie 500 with little to no practice just by sitting still. Decisions, actions, behaviors, thoughts and emotions can all seem amped up when you live with anxiety, fear, panic and hypervigilance and PTSD. Here’s a smart blog post by Michele Rosenthal on how to deal with PTSD symptoms.

Hidden amongst all the intense media coverage surrounding Facebook’s IPO last Spring, there was a news item that was covered so briefly that if you blinked you may have missed it: Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, took a trip to Japan and during this visit told Japan’s Prime Minister that the terrible Tsunami that had struck the country in 2011 had inspired him to find ways that the social network could help people after natural disasters.

While autism clearly runs in some families, few inherited genetic causes have been found. A major reason is that these causes are so varied that it’s hard to find enough people with a given mutation to establish a clear pattern. Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have pinpointed several inherited mutations—among the first to be identified—through an unusual approach: using whole-exome sequencing to study large Middle Eastern families with autism.

For U.S. troops, less combat is not translating to less stress. Members of the military committed suicide at a record pace in 2012 – almost one per day – and some experts think the trend will grow worse this year.

Good numbers on PTSD and returning soldiers are hard to come by. Some accounts say 103,200, or 228,875, or 336,000 Americans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan came back with PTSD, depending on whom you ask, and one of 115,000 to 456,000 with traumatic brain injury. It’s hard to say, with the lack of definitive tests for the former, undertesting for the latter, underreporting, under or over-misdiagnosing of both. And as slippery as all that is, even less understood is the collateral damage, to families, to schools, to society – emotional and fiscal costs borne long after the war is over. One thing we know is it’s an epidemic.

The introduction of a new column by Kat Dawkins on her life with bipolar disorder.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was held accountable for poor treatment of a military veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder. Finally.

In his federal lawsuit, Sgt. Stanley Laskowski III argued that he had suffered serious deterioration of his mental health because of the VA’s failure to follow its own protocol and properly treat him for PTSD. After a lengthy trial, Senior U.S. District Judge James M. Munley agreed. This was a first. Suing the government is difficult enough; proving that the VA has been derelict in its duties to returning veterans is considered downright next to impossible.

Wonderful and poignant essay on autism and stigma by Jacqueline Laurita, one of the original Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Nice piece from a woman who’s coming to grips with how to manage her generalized anxiety disorder.

A new survey of stroke survivors has shown that those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are less likely to adhere to treatment regimens that reduce the risk of an additional stroke.

Some tips on managing a most frustrating condition.