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Soldiers
used to hide their shell shock so they weren’t labelled
mentally unstable and shipped home from the frontline in
disgrace.
Today, military and emergency response organisations are
doing their best to recognise and prevent what is now a
leading cause of medical invalidity retirements. Post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious anxiety reaction that
develops because of frightening or traumatic events. Up
to 30 per cent of military and emergency response personnel
suffer ongoing symptoms due to trauma.
Symptoms include intrusive flashbacks of traumatic events,
an exaggererated sense of vulnerability, and avoidance and
withdrawal behaviours – symptoms that are often paired
with intense feelings of grief, guilt, fear or anger.
Sufferers of PTSD often adopt harmful habits of alcohol
or other drug abuse to block out painful memories and feelings.
Left untreated, however, this behaviour can snowball into
a chronic, debilitating condition. Not surprisingly, psychologists
are investigating ways to prevent and treat the condition.
While much is known about the psychological profile of people
who may develop PTSD, novel
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research
by UNSW PhD student, Rachel Guthrie, has captured international
attention.
She’s been awarded a $US1,000 student research
grant by the International Society for Traumatic Stress
Studies (ISTSS) for her study involving fire-fighters from
the NSW Fire Brigades.
Three years ago, Guthrie began a prospective study to examine
psychological and biological predictors of PTSD in 85 new
recruits.
“It’s the first study in the world to assess
biological and psychological functioning before and after
trauma exposure,” said Guthrie.
“This is a big issue yet to be tackled in the trauma
field and one that many researchers have highlighted for
investigation.”
Guthrie is looking for specific biological markers of the
fear response that predict PTSD symptoms following trauma.
“Our biological fear response affects things like
our heart rate and skin conductance, which is a measure
of sweat gland activity,” she said.
“Both variables increase when we’re fearful
or highly aroused following a traumatic event, and our preliminary
data suggests that we can identify individuals who have
heightened arousal after a trauma event.”
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Guthrie and her academic supervisor, Professor Richard Bryant
from the school of psychology, have been able to produce
fear responses in the fire brigade recruits by exposing
them to a loud noise, referred to as a startling stimulus.
“While most people get used to the stimulus after
several repetitions, a sub-group of individuals continue
responding to the noise – they keep showing biological
signs of fear,” said Guthrie.
“This suggests that they’re more biologically
reactive than others.”
Guthrie has a hunch that these biomarkers are highly correlated
with early signs of PTSD following trauma.
If she’s correct – and her results can be replicated
by a Harvard University-based group that’s doing similar
research – it will be a big advance in understanding
the disorder.
The NSW Fire Brigades have agreed to participate in the
study because the organisation sees the potential to reduce
the impact of trauma on their workforce, according to Guthrie.
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