How are Veterans impacted by TBI in combination with PTSD?
As a Veteran, I have an understanding of injuries that plague veterans. Having served eight years in the military during a time of war, it is no surprise that I have some injuries as well. During my first deployment I was a combat mechanic. In the Marines one has a primary skill, but every single Marine is a Rifleman first. This means that the technicians, mechanics, cooks and so on would pick up their rifle and join the front lines in the mission requires it. Always trained in combat, always ready to fight, and prepared for the worst with hopes for the best situation. My second deployment was in Afghanistan in 2012. This time around I worked as an Intelligence Analyst with the Army. While we were in a “Safe Zone” there is no such thing as a 100% safe zone. I incurred physical damage to my body over those eight years as well as “invisible wounds” as this is what some call mental health issues with veterans.
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72 of the 93 had deployment related mild TBI, while 21 deployed veterans with no TBI comprised the negative comparison group. To form a positive control group, 14 civilians with mild TBI were used in the study. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to detect white matter damage in patients with TBI. Psychiatric assessment included the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) which many veterans take, and Neuropsychological Assessments such as the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading. After the assessments, the veterans had some MRI’s done using voxel-based analysis and pothole analysis. It is not specified in the article as to what period of time the subjects were studied. However, as a veteran who has veteran friends who have participated in PTSD and TBI studies, I can infer that the study lasted about a year since that is the period of time my friends were studied