Researchers report first objective test for post-traumatic stress disorder

By Deane Morrison
January 20, 2010

Tapping into the "babble" between groups of neurons in the brain, University of Minnesota researchers have linked a pattern of signals to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a debilitating condition for which there is no objective test.

Such a test could give doctors a way to diagnose PTSD, assess its severity, and evaluate treatments. It could also guide those who decide who is entitled to disability payments or which soldiers are fit for redeployment.

Leading the study were Apostolos Georgopoulos, Regents Professor of Neuroscience and director of the Brain Sciences Center at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and VA psychologist Brian Engdahl, a clinical associate professor of psychology at the University. The work is published online in IOP Publishing's Journal of Neural Engineering.

Help for a private agony

PTSD patients typically suffer from nightmares and relive—involuntarily—traumatic experiences. The disorder can be caused by almost any situation of intense fear or violence, such as sexual assault, a car accident, or the horrors of battle

"Across all types of disabling diseases, PTSD consistently ranks in the top 20, especially among women," says Engdahl. "The current lifetime prevalence is about 3.4 percent for men and 9.7 percent for women. The cost in human and economic terms is staggering."

As with nearly all mental disorders, PTSD leaves few clues for the outside world to latch onto. Neither X-rays nor brain scans like CT or MRI can identify patients who have it