New Research Could Improve Treatments for PTSD

Sweeping new studies shed light on the underlying mechanisms of posttraumatic stress disorder

Image: Keegan Houser/Unsplash

June is PTSD awareness month. Thanks to the arduous work of researchers, advocates, survivors, and psychological and medical professionals over the years, the acronym for posttraumatic stress disorder is now common parlance.

The effects of PTSD are also more widely known:

• About 8 million adults in the U.S. have PTSD during a given year.
• 3.5 percent of U.S. adults are diagnosed every year with PTSD.
• An estimated one in 11 people will be diagnosed with PTSD in their lifetime.
• 20 percent of people in the U.S. who experience a traumatic event will develop PTSD.
• Women are twice as likely as men to have PTSD.
• An estimated 354 million adult war survivors globally have PTSD and/or major depression.
• 13.5% of deployed and non-deployed Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD, while other studies show the rate to be as high as 20% to 30%.
• Three ethnic groups — U.S. Latinos, African Americans, and American Indians — are disproportionately affected and have higher rates of PTSD than non-Latino…