A study of mind-body medicine getting underway in Portland, Oregon will test whether veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder can benefit from meditation, neurofeedback and other healing alternatives.
Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University are seeking 45 volunteers, including combat veterans troubled by PTSD and veterans who lack combat experience or have never suffered from PTSD. They are accepting veterans between the ages of 18 and 70 who are in good health.
The pilot study, which could lead to a larger clinical trial, will measure how stressful and relaxing situations change a subject's hormone levels, heart rate, brain activity, and immune system functioning. Helané Wahbeh, a naturopathic doctor and postdoctoral fellow at OHSU, is leading the study with funding from OHSU's department of neurology as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“Mind-body medicine appears to be an ideal way to help people with PTSD because the disorder affects the body’s immune system, hormone system and nervous system,” says Helané Wahbeh, N.D., a naturopathic physician researcher at OHSU. “I don’t believe you can effectively treat PTSD by only focusing on one aspect of the illness. For example, if we only give people suffering from PTSD anti-depressants, we may only be treating one aspect of the illness.”
The first phase of the OHSU study will measure changes in hormones, heart rate, brain activity and the immune system in both relaxing and stressful situations. Mary Lu, M.D., a psychiatrist with the Portland VA Medical Center, will provide PTSD screening.
Veterans interested in volunteering for the study, which will take up to about six hours of their time (probably broken up over time) can call (503) 494-3528 for more information.
Editor's note: If the study will measure hormone levels, undoubtedly it will measure cortisol levels -- and we've talked about cortisol, stress and sleep quite a bit previously on this blog. Unfortunately, good luck to the study's researchers on finding older vets who are also in "good health," especially ones who suffer from combat-based PTSD. Typically this creates a cascade of other physiological problems as veterans age -- however, on the plus side, mind-body relaxation techniques ideally will help even older veterans with health problems to achieve greater quality of life. Either way it's an interesting study.
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Additionally, here's a little more about the study from OHSU's own site, including some goals and a short video, linked here. And here's a description of the study (confusingly saying that it's not yet open for participation yet -- call the phone number instead to be sure) from the NIH's own Clinical Trials site, linked here.
