Quick Morphine Treatment May Help Prevent PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) affects both active duty soldiers and war veterans, but now there may be a way to help prevent it. Immediately administering a treatment of morphine to troops wounded in the field can cut the chance in half that they will develop PTSD, according to a new study that is suggesting a new strategy for preventing the psychological fallout of war.

Researchers from the U.S. Naval Health Research Center led the study of approximately 700 troops that were injured in Iraq between the years of 2004 and 2006. Troy Lisa Holbrook, who is an epidemiologist at the Naval Center and the leader of this study, said, “It was surprising how strong the effect of the morphine was.” The findings of this study were published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Of course, whether or not the Pentagon will adopt this practice on the battlefield remains to be seen. Dr. Jack Smith, who is the acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for clinical and program policy, stated that the “very interesting findings” are “likely to stimulate further research.”

Approximately 53,000 troops that have returned from Afghanistan and Iraq have been treated for PTSD, a disorder in which someone who has endured a traumatic event keeps re-experiencing both the event and the fear and emotions it caused. These patients often have trouble with relationships, substance abuse, work and physical ailments.

The researchers have been testing different ways to treat it, and this new study looked at whether fast and strong pain relief can help to prevent it. However, it was still unclear as to whether it was the fast pain treatment or something more specific to the morphine that made the difference.

A second study in the journal found that the wives of the soldiers were more likely to develop sleep problems or depression the longer, or the more times, their spouses were deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. That study, which was conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina and elsewhere, examined medical records for outpatient care of approximately 250,000 wives of active-duty soldiers between the years of 2003 and 2006. When compared with the wives whose husbands stayed home, those whose husbands were deployed for up to 11 months were 18 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression. Also, they were at least 20 percent more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety, sleep disorders or acute stress.

For the wives whose husbands were deployed for more than 11 months, these types of problems were even more common. They were at least 24 percent more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety or depression, and approximately 40 percent more likely to be diagnosed with sleep problems or acute stress.

However, the researcher did not have data showing whether the soldiers were deployed or at home when the wives were being treated for the mental health issues. This meant that the researchers could not conclude whether those problems were caused by the worries for the spouse’s safety and the difficulties of being a single parent, or by the stress that is caused by the returning spouse’s behavioral changes or psychological problems.

Rothbaum said, “I suspect that if you look at the Reserve and National Guard wives, the toll might be even worse,” because they have even less social support that the families that live in a military community.

She stated that the effect of the deployment on the children also needed to be studied so that the military can figure out how they can provide more help for the families.