• Baylor researchers, alumni spreading awareness of and seeking cure for PTSD

    Veteran's Day

    Today is Veterans’ Day. To honor and aid those who have served to keep us safe and protect our freedoms, researchers in Baylor’s College of Arts and Sciences (psychology/neuroscience) and the School of Social Work are studying what exactly causes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how it affects not only soldiers but their families in hopes of providing some relief to those friends and family members we celebrate today.

    When these research efforts are complete, their findings will certainly help soldiers and those who care for them — but that’s just the beginning. PTSD can occur following any severely traumatic event (not just war); many who rode out Hurricane Katrina were affected by the disorder afterward, as were those who suffered through the earthquake in Haiti last January.

    Alumna Becky Oberg, BA ’01, was moved to write this poem after reading of what was happening in Haiti following the earthquake. Her effort, “PTSD in Haiti,” ran in the August 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA 2010;304(5):503], the most widely circulated medical journal in the world.

    PTSD remains a mystery to many, but it’s good to see so many in the Baylor family working across a variety of mediums to spread awareness of and find ways to battle the disorder on behalf of those who need it.

    Sic ’em, Bears!