Week 10 - Massachusetts General Hospital PTSD Research Lab

In light of the recent killing of 16 civilians in Afghanistan by a U.S. soldier, I am donating this week to Mass General's PTSD research and Psychophysiology lab. Multiple deployments, unclear missions, poor leadership and combat stress have taken a tremendous toll on our troops and current estimates say 1 in 5 soldiers come home with PTSD or other psychological disorders. I am a strong supporter of research initiatives aimed at learning more about the causes, treatments, and prevention of PTSD.

The effects of PSTD are profound.

In my own family experience, decades of untreated PSTD have exacted a significant toll on our well-being as a family. The emotional withdrawal that occurs in a loved one experiencing PTSD is devastating to say the least. It is a constant struggle to remind oneself not take hurtful behaviors personally, to stand up and try in the best way possible to support the healing process of the individual and the family unit. The statistic of 1 in 5 soldiers does not even come close to the reality that each of those soldier's PTSD symptoms then effect his or her family members raising the numbers of people suffering significantly.

PTSD research is critical.

New research in the last decade has produced treatments for PSTD that are more effective than anything yet discovered. One of these treatments, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) has proved to be extremely effective. The data in 24 randomized trials supports The US Department of Veterans Affairs recommendation of EMDR as an approach to treatment. This is just one example of where extensive research has resulted in a new treatment.

The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Psychophysiology Lab at Mass General is conducting the following research projects:*

1. Positron emission tomographic study of cerebral blood flow during traumatic mental imagery in PTSD (R.K. Pitman, Principal Investigator). The major goal of this study is to evaluate which regions of the brain are selectively activated during traumatic re-experiencing.
2. Secondary prevention of PTSD with propranolol (R.K. Pitman, Principal Investigator). The major goal of this project is to investigate the effectiveness of the beta-adrengergic blocker propranolol in preventing the development of PTSD in persons presenting to the MGH Emergency Department following a traumatic experience.
3. Prospective psychophysiologic study of risk for PTSD (S.P Orr, Principal Investigator). The major goal of this project is to examine a promising set of pre-trauma psychophysiologic, endocrinologic, and psychometric measures for their ability to predict the occurrence of PTSD following exposure to traumatic events in firefighter/EMT and police recruits.

* Information copied from the Mass General PTSD website.

Week 10 will be matched 100% by my company.