From David Chin: For More Info, Go Here…
U.S. combat soldiers who suffered a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are more likely than soldiers with other serious injuries to experience a range of mental health disorders, according to a new retrospective study by University of Massachusetts Amherst health services researchers.
“A central takeaway is that severe TBI is associated with a greater risk of mental health conditions – not just PTSD,” says lead investigator David Chin, assistant professor of health policy and management in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences. “Our findings suggest that patients who are critically injured in combat and sustain severe TBI have particularly high rates of mental health disorders.”
Chin found that 71% of all the severely injured soldiers were diagnosed in follow-up care with at least one of five mental health conditions: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and mood disorders, adjustment reactions, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, and cognitive disorders.
“There was a common belief that having a severe TBI resulted in an amnestic effect on PTSD – the injuries were so severe that the patients have no memory of the event and that put them at lower risk of having mental health outcomes. This data showed to the contrary,” Chin says.“There was a common belief that having a severe TBI resulted in an amnestic effect on PTSD – the injuries were so severe that the patients have no memory of the event and that put them at lower risk of having mental health outcomes. This data showed to the contrary,” Chin says.
