Junior Seau’s suicide via a gunshot to his chest mirrors Dave Duerson’s death. Was Junior preserving his brain for study to determine if he had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)? Has another great professional athlete experienced a sports related brain injury to add his name to the list of others : NFL/Football John [...]
Combat Stress: Old Wine in New Bottles
In 1945 the director, John Huston made the documentary film “Let There Be Light” which recognized the combat stress reaction that we now know as PTSD. Huston’s documentary follows soldiers home from the battlefield into a military treatment program. The Army stopped the release of the film for 35 years and it wasn’t until 1981 [...]
Vietnam Vets Shed Light on Suicidal Thoughts
A study conducted by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco has noted that veterans with more experiences involving killing were twice as likely to have reported suicidal thoughts as veterans with fewer or no experience involving killing. In the study, the authors created for variables or [...]
Was Sgt. Bales’ TBI to Blame for Afghanistan Massacre
In the middle of the night of March 11, 2012 a U.S. soldier is accused of doing the unthinkable. Sgt. Robert Bales stands accused of walking into the villages of Balandi and Alkozai, near Camp Belamby, where he broke into homes and executed 17 civilians—half of them children. Some of the bodies were set ablaze. [...]
Writer with Traumatic Brain Injury Wins National Award for Memoir
When author Mira Bartok began writing her memoir, “The Memory Palace”, she had no idea that she would end up winning a prestigious national award and traveling to book signings across the country. The memoir, which just won the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award, details Bartok’s experiences prior to and following a traumatic brain [...]
Flu Drug Speeds Brain Injury Recovery: Amantadine Hydrochloride Appears to Speed Recovery in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients
A recent study announced that amantadine hydrochloride may actually speed recovery in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. Amantadine hydrochloride, is not new on the market, as it is a drug typically used to prevent and treat the flu as well as side effects caused by drugs and Parkinson’s disease. In the study TBI patients “who weren’t [...]
Traumatic Brain Injury May be Linked to PTSD
On Feb. 15, UCLA life scientists published in the journal Biological Psychiatry a study that reveals a causal link between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and an increased susceptibility to post-traumatic stress disorder. The study also suggests that those suffering from even mild TBIs are more likely to develop anxiety disorders. The information confirms the fact [...]
Substance Abuse May Predate Brain Injury
When Dr. Gabor Mate began investigating medical literature to prove that addictions develop following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) he made a startling discovery: the exact opposite is true. Brain injuries tend to develop in greater frequency among those who are already predisposed to the symptoms of addiction. “Brain injuries happen mostly to young men [...]
Leading Causes of Brain Injury
Brain Injury, the silent epidemic, has become a serious health concern. The CDC estimates 1.7 million Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)-related incidents occur in the U.S each year. Furthermore they state that “TBI is a contributing factor to a third (30.5%) of all injury-related deaths”. Reporting that between 2002 and 2006 35.2% of TBI were caused [...]
Family Physicians at the Frontline for Veterans Returning with Brain Injuries and PTSD
As soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan, most will resume their lives in the civilian world, returning to family, friends, jobs and community. Approximately one of three veterans will experience continuing symptoms of combat stress, depression, anxiety and PTSD. Others will have symptoms of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) as a result of concussive [...]
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