Post Traumatic Stress

The main reason I cry out for research on PTSD, besides my own pathology, is because of all our returning citizen-soldiers. There is no way to prepare a human being for the true horror of war. War severs bonds that have been forged through shared hardships. War demands that a sensitive human being must forgo rational decision-making, and kill, or risk personal safety.

There was an article in Reuters about PTSD. It appears to be "associated with increased levels of two coagulation (clotting) factors and may thereby promote atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, investigators say.

"Several studies have demonstrated the increased cardiovascular risk associated with PTSD, even years after the trauma. Suggested mediators of this relationship include unhealthy lifestyle, chronic low-grade inflammation, and blood clotting activation, but until now no one had investigated any link between PTSD and a "hypercoagulable" state."

I believe that PTSD is the most under-diagnosed condition in America.

I am a child of divorced parents. Studies are emerging, that show the disastrous effects of cumulative stress, on young children. I believe that fifty percent of all children of divorce, may have mild to severe PTSD. I see the same pathology in all four of my siblings.

"The levels of specific PTSD symptoms (re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal) as well as depression and anxiety were assessed by interview. From blood samples, the investigators measured blood levels of several clotting factors.

"The team concludes that symptoms associated with PTSD could lead to a hypercoagulable state, which 'could be of particular clinical importance in terms of an elevated cardiovascular risk and overall mortality several years down the line.'"

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=13139876&src=eDialog/GetContent