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Seattlest Pix 09Nov08
Seattlest Pix 09Nov09
As promised, Seattlest attended the PTSD lecture given at the UW last night. This was the first installment in this year's three Allen Edwards Psychology Lectures, and we're delighted to report that it's okay to come even if you aren't, you know, medically credentialed or what-have you. (Advance registration is "required," although they also "register" at the door. Seattlest initially had visions of having to fake a psych degree on our way in: goatee, pipe, slight Europish accent, but unfortunately, it wasn't called for.)
The talks are presented in partnership with the UW Alumni Association, see, which has the goal of "encouraging community participation in the wealth of knowledge, resources and research conducted at the UW," according to the very helpful Patricia, who responds quickly to email inquiries. And she pointed out this calendar of UWAA events and this one about the Endless Campus lectures. All for a no-doubt snarkily disreputable blog! "Marry me!" as Maebe used to [*sniff*] blurt out.
Now, on to PTSD. We thought we'd warm up with some humor, because one of the first things we learned is that there's nothing funny about PTSD. We took pages of notes, which we're not going to refer to, so as to keep this post "fresh" and "spontaneous." [ED: There's always a first time.]
Here are the take-away points we gleaned from speakers Richard Bryant (of New South Wales University) and Lori Zoellner (of the UW):
PTSD is what it's called when the normal reaction to trauma doesn't dissipate within three months. However, all the symptoms of PTSD may well freak your sh*t out until then, if you've been in a very traumatic situation. That's called Acute Stress Disorder.Right now, there's no practical way to tell who's more susceptible to chronic PTSD ahead of time. Research is being done, but we're a long way from, for instance, being able to tell who's likely to come back from combat and still be fighting the war in their heads. (The UW's PTSD staff is consulting with the Army's Madigan Hospital on treatment of Iraq war veterans.)
PTSD symptoms can include general restlessness, insomnia, aggressiveness, depression, dissociation, emotional detachment, or nightmares. A potential symptom is the memory loss about an aspect of the traumatic event. Amplification of other underlying psychological conditions may also occur. Young children suffering from PTSD will often enact aspects of the trauma through their play, and may often have nightmares that lack any recognizable content. [Says Wikipedia]
There's still a lack of awareness around PTSD, where people suffering from it will try to tough it out. The median time people take to seek treatment is 12 years. Only about 6% will try to get help within the first year. And only about 30% of the people who do seek treatment will get something helpful.
The best treatment options, according to current studies, employ some form of cognitive behavior therapy. A top-performing modality, Prolonged Exposure, is also emotionally grueling, since the person is asked to spend entire sessions "re-experiencing" the incident with the therapist, as a form of desensitization.
Yet, while Zoloft can treat PTSD symptoms (if not quite as well as therapy), a majority of people asked prefer the cognitive therapy option. (It's also the case that to prevent relapse, you may need to take Zoloft for a full year.)
Next up: on Wednesday, March 1, the lectures series turns to how politics is affecting AIDS research.
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