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Establishing a methodology to examine the effects of war-zone PTSD on the family: the family foundations study.

ABSTRACT: Military deployment may adversely affect not only returning veterans, but their families, as well. As a result, researchers have increasingly focused on identifying risk and protective factors for successful family adaptation to war-zone deployment, re-integration of the returning veteran, and the longer-term psychosocial consequences of deployment experienced by some veterans and families. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among returning veterans may pose particular challenges to military and military veteran families; however, questions remain regarding the impact of the course of veteran PTSD and other potential moderating factors on family adaptation to military deployment. The Family Foundations Study builds upon an established longitudinal cohort of Army soldiers (i.e. the Neurocognition Deployment Health Study) to help address remaining knowledge gaps. This report describes the conceptual framework and key gaps in knowledge that guided the study design, methodological challenges and special considerations in conducting military family research, and how these gaps, challenges, and special considerations are addressed by the study.

SUBMITTER: Vasterling JJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4470319 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Establishing a methodology to examine the effects of war-zone PTSD on the family: the family foundations study.

Vasterling Jennifer J JJ Taft Casey T CT Proctor Susan P SP Macdonald Helen Z HZ Lawrence Amy A Kalill Kathleen K Kaiser Anica P AP Lee Lewina O LO King Daniel W DW King Lynda A LA Fairbank John A JA

International journal of methods in psychiatric research 20150601 2

Military deployment may adversely affect not only returning veterans, but their families, as well. As a result, researchers have increasingly focused on identifying risk and protective factors for successful family adaptation to war-zone deployment, re-integration of the returning veteran, and the longer-term psychosocial consequences of deployment experienced by some veterans and families. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among returning veterans may pose particular challenges to military ...[more]

PMID: 26077194

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Project description:What happens in the brain when conscious awareness of the surrounding world fades? We manipulated consciousness in two experiments in a group of healthy males and measured brain activity with positron emission tomography. Measurements were made during wakefulness, escalating and constant levels of two anesthetic agents (experiment 1, n = 39), and during sleep-deprived wakefulness and non-rapid eye movement sleep (experiment 2, n = 37). In experiment 1, the subjects were randomized to receive either propofol or dexmedetomidine until unresponsiveness. In both experiments, forced awakenings were applied to achieve rapid recovery from an unresponsive to a responsive state, followed by immediate and detailed interviews of subjective experiences during the preceding unresponsive condition. Unresponsiveness rarely denoted unconsciousness, as the majority of the subjects had internally generated experiences. Unresponsive anesthetic states and verified sleep stages, where a subsequent report of mental content included no signs of awareness of the surrounding world, indicated a disconnected state. Functional brain imaging comparing responsive and connected versus unresponsive and disconnected states of consciousness during constant anesthetic exposure revealed that activity of the thalamus, cingulate cortices, and angular gyri are fundamental for human consciousness. These brain structures were affected independent from the pharmacologic agent, drug concentration, and direction of change in the state of consciousness. Analogous findings were obtained when consciousness was regulated by physiological sleep. State-specific findings were distinct and separable from the overall effects of the interventions, which included widespread depression of brain activity across cortical areas. These findings identify a central core brain network critical for human consciousness.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Trying to understand the biological basis of human consciousness is currently one of the greatest challenges of neuroscience. While the loss and return of consciousness regulated by anesthetic drugs and physiological sleep are used as model systems in experimental studies on consciousness, previous research results have been confounded by drug effects, by confusing behavioral "unresponsiveness" and internally generated consciousness, and by comparing brain activity levels across states that differ in several other respects than only consciousness. Here, we present carefully designed studies that overcome many previous confounders and for the first time reveal the neural mechanisms underlying human consciousness and its disconnection from behavioral responsiveness, both during anesthesia and during normal sleep, and in the same study subjects.

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Establishing a methodology to examine the effects of war-zone PTSD on the family: the family foundations study.

Publications

Establishing a methodology to examine the effects of war-zone PTSD on the family: the family foundations study.

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