Sep 17th, 2008 · A new study shows about 20 percent of patients checking out of hospital intensive care units suffer post traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Sydney Spiesel — a practicing pediatrician and professor at Yale Medical School — talks to Madeleine Brand about why this happens and what hospitals can do.
Aug 25th, 2008 · The war in Iraq has had a severe impact on the country's children. More than 650 children were reported killed there last year. Iraq's children also have been the victims of kidnapping, torture and rape. In the first of two pieces, NPR's Lourdes Garcia Navarro reports, a clinic for children suffering post-traumatic stress disorder is opening this month in Baghdad.
May 27th, 2008 · Albert "Skip" Rizzo talks about the immersion therapy video game he created for psychologists treating veterans struggling with PTSD. The game simulates the sights, sounds and smells of combat and allows a patient to re-enter a traumatic situation gradually.
May 23rd, 2008 · Concern that the government is trying to save money by curbing the number of diagnoses for post-traumatic stress disorder has been heightened by an incident at a Veterans Affairs hospital. An inquiry is under way, and a VA coordinator has been removed.
Mar 3rd, 2008 · A federal judge begins hearing testimony in a lawsuit filed by the California-based Disability Rights Advocates against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The suit seeks to force the VA to provide immediate mental health services to suicidal veterans. The judge, a conservative World War II veteran, will hear testimony from experts on PTSD and other veterans' mental health issues.
Jan 31st, 2008 · Concussions and other minor head injuries may have long-lasting implications for soldiers injured in Iraq. New research indicates a very high rate of these soldiers later experience post traumatic stress disorder.
Dec 20th, 2007 · Veterans advocates are looking to restore benefits for troops who came back from combat with mental health problems, couldn't get adequate help, misbehaved and then got kicked out of the military. One lawmaker said that taking care of such vets is "simple justice."
Nov 26th, 2007 · A new experimental treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, involves doses of the popular party drug ecstasy. Tom Shroder recently wrote about the treatment in the Washington Post Magazine. Shroder is joined by Dr. Michael Mithoefer, who performed the experiment.