Yale Faculty to Direct $6.9 Million VA Study of PTSD

[Guest guest]

Your Tax Dollars At Work! Isn't it grand that study after study shows drugs

to be of little benefit and of great harm. People get completely well if

never drugged and excercise and talk therapy work as well or better than the

drugs and our tax dollars go toward another study on WHICH DRUG is the best

to give our beloved soldiers. Anyone with a lick of sense (and all the data

actually disclosed to the them upfront for once) could weight the " benefits

against the risks " and start moving away from the cash cow poisons and

actually come up with a program of treatment that helps without all the

dangers and with a potential result of complete recovery instead of these

repeatedly sad statements of " this is a life long illness " which really

means " we get your business for the rest of your life " and in my opinion

" you are now a slave to your genes and chemical imbalances and have no

chance of making a decision, coming to a realization, changing your mind or

finding God/Allah/Yayweh and we will profit from your slavery " .

Jim

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=30497

Yale Faculty to Direct $6.9 Million VA Study of PTSD

12 Sep 2005

Yale School of Medicine will direct a $6.9 million nationwide study into the

effectiveness of an anti-psychotic medication for veterans with chronic,

military service-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The Yale-led study is funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It

is the first multi-center trial to evaluate a non-SRI treatment for PTSD

symptoms and the first multi-center study of the medication treatment of

PTSD to focus on veterans.

PTSD is the most prevalent and costly psychiatric diagnosis treated within

the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said Krystal, M.D., professor

in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. He said there

are an estimated 196,000 veterans with PTSD. Five percent of all Veterans

Administration (VA) patients and 25 percent of all patients with mental

health diagnoses have a diagnosis of PTSD. Thirteen percent of all VA mental

health costs, or $274 million, is spent to care for veterans with PTSD.

" Recent survey data suggest that 10 to 20 percent of soldiers participating

in combat in Iraq meet criteria for PTSD, " Krystal said. " Thus, there is

good reason to anticipate a substantial influx of veterans with PTSD into VA

treatment programs. "

Currently, there are only two medication treatments approved by the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of PTSD and both are in the

same class of antidepressant, the serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRI's).

" Although antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed medications to

treat PTSD symptoms, these medications often have limited effectiveness for

veterans with long-standing PTSD symptoms related to their military

service, " said Krystal. " The study will determine whether an 'atypical'

antipsychotic drug, risperidone, is effective for treating PTSD symptoms in

veterans who have not responded to antidepressant treatment. It builds on

emerging evidence that atypical antipsychotic drugs may be important new

medications for treating PTSD symptoms that are unresponsive to

antidepressants. "

Krystal and Rosenheck, M.D., also a professor of psychiatry at Yale,

will direct the study from the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West

Haven. Krystal also leads the Clinical Neuroscience Division and Rosenheck

heads the Evaluation Division of the VA's National Center for PTSD.

Four hundred veterans with chronic, military service-related PTSD will be

enrolled at 20 VA hospitals from across the United States over a two-year

period. Half of the patients will receive risperidone and half will receive

placebo for six months. The primary objective is to determine whether PTSD

symptoms are reduced by risperidone. This study also will evaluate whether

other consequences of PTSD will respond to risperidone, including sleep

disturbance, violent behavior, cognitive impairment, alcohol and substance

abuse, and reduced quality of life. It will also explore whether it is safe

and cost-effective to prescribe risperidone to veterans with PTSD.

" PTSD is an important and timely focus for VA research, " Krystal said. " The

Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, published in the early 1990s, showed

that more than 15 percent of a nationwide sample of veterans still had

sufficient symptom levels to meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD 15 yeas after

the end of the Vietnam War. New cases of PTSD have been associated with each

successive U.S. military engagement and peacekeeping mission since the

Vietnam War. This new study may help to address an important unmet need for

these veterans, their families, and the VA. "

Yale News Releases are available via the World Wide Web at

http://www.yale.edu/opa

[Guest guest]

Your Tax Dollars At Work! Isn't it grand that study after study shows drugs

to be of little benefit and of great harm. People get completely well if

never drugged and excercise and talk therapy work as well or better than the

drugs and our tax dollars go toward another study on WHICH DRUG is the best

to give our beloved soldiers. Anyone with a lick of sense (and all the data

actually disclosed to the them upfront for once) could weight the " benefits

against the risks " and start moving away from the cash cow poisons and

actually come up with a program of treatment that helps without all the

dangers and with a potential result of complete recovery instead of these

repeatedly sad statements of " this is a life long illness " which really

means " we get your business for the rest of your life " and in my opinion

" you are now a slave to your genes and chemical imbalances and have no

chance of making a decision, coming to a realization, changing your mind or

finding God/Allah/Yayweh and we will profit from your slavery " .

Jim

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=30497

Yale Faculty to Direct $6.9 Million VA Study of PTSD

12 Sep 2005

Yale School of Medicine will direct a $6.9 million nationwide study into the

effectiveness of an anti-psychotic medication for veterans with chronic,

military service-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The Yale-led study is funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It

is the first multi-center trial to evaluate a non-SRI treatment for PTSD

symptoms and the first multi-center study of the medication treatment of

PTSD to focus on veterans.

PTSD is the most prevalent and costly psychiatric diagnosis treated within

the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said Krystal, M.D., professor

in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. He said there

are an estimated 196,000 veterans with PTSD. Five percent of all Veterans

Administration (VA) patients and 25 percent of all patients with mental

health diagnoses have a diagnosis of PTSD. Thirteen percent of all VA mental

health costs, or $274 million, is spent to care for veterans with PTSD.

" Recent survey data suggest that 10 to 20 percent of soldiers participating

in combat in Iraq meet criteria for PTSD, " Krystal said. " Thus, there is

good reason to anticipate a substantial influx of veterans with PTSD into VA

treatment programs. "

Currently, there are only two medication treatments approved by the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of PTSD and both are in the

same class of antidepressant, the serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRI's).

" Although antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed medications to

treat PTSD symptoms, these medications often have limited effectiveness for

veterans with long-standing PTSD symptoms related to their military

service, " said Krystal. " The study will determine whether an 'atypical'

antipsychotic drug, risperidone, is effective for treating PTSD symptoms in

veterans who have not responded to antidepressant treatment. It builds on

emerging evidence that atypical antipsychotic drugs may be important new

medications for treating PTSD symptoms that are unresponsive to

antidepressants. "

Krystal and Rosenheck, M.D., also a professor of psychiatry at Yale,

will direct the study from the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West

Haven. Krystal also leads the Clinical Neuroscience Division and Rosenheck

heads the Evaluation Division of the VA's National Center for PTSD.

Four hundred veterans with chronic, military service-related PTSD will be

enrolled at 20 VA hospitals from across the United States over a two-year

period. Half of the patients will receive risperidone and half will receive

placebo for six months. The primary objective is to determine whether PTSD

symptoms are reduced by risperidone. This study also will evaluate whether

other consequences of PTSD will respond to risperidone, including sleep

disturbance, violent behavior, cognitive impairment, alcohol and substance

abuse, and reduced quality of life. It will also explore whether it is safe

and cost-effective to prescribe risperidone to veterans with PTSD.

" PTSD is an important and timely focus for VA research, " Krystal said. " The

Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, published in the early 1990s, showed

that more than 15 percent of a nationwide sample of veterans still had

sufficient symptom levels to meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD 15 yeas after

the end of the Vietnam War. New cases of PTSD have been associated with each

successive U.S. military engagement and peacekeeping mission since the

Vietnam War. This new study may help to address an important unmet need for

these veterans, their families, and the VA. "

Yale News Releases are available via the World Wide Web at

http://www.yale.edu/opa