PTSD News: Anxiety Disorder More Common in Migraine Suffers, May be Diagnosed by Brain Scans

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder that may develop in people who have been exposed to traumatic or terrifying events, appears to be more common in people who suffer from migraine headaches.

Meanwhile, medical researchers say brain scans may be able to detect PTSD in patients, increasing the ability to diagnose the condition earlier.

Soldiers returning from war, victims of violent crime, and others who have been subjected to sudden, horrifying events may develop PTSD. The condition can cause symptoms ranging from persistent frightening thoughts and memories of the event, a feeling of emotional detachment, difficulty sleeping, and being easily startled. PTSD victims may also be more prone to aggressive and violent outbursts.

Link Between Migraines and PTSD Found

Researchers from Drexel University College of Medicine Headache Clinic in Philadelphia say they have found that people with migraine headaches are more likely to have PTSD than others. In a study of 593 adults with migraines, about 30 percent also had PTSD. By comparison, PTSD is only found in about eight percent of the general population without migraines, the researchers said.

About 42 percent of all the migraine sufferers in the study said they had been physically or sexually abused, while 65 percent of migraine sufferers with PTSD said they had been similarly abused, according to the study.

Researchers Say Medical Imaging May Detect PTSD

A separate newly released study conducted by researchers at the World Psychiatric Association Congress in Italy suggests that brain patterns detected by brain scans may identify PTSD in soldiers returning home from war. The research focused on 42 U.S. soldiers who had recently served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Compared to healthy veterans, soldiers who reported suffering from PTSD showed noticeable differences in the same areas of brain activity, the scientists said. The areas of the brain studied help people remain focused and process memory, two regions commonly affected by PTSD.

Identifying those unique brain patterns may help doctors better diagnose and treat PTSD, according to the Italian study.

“Collectively, these findings raise the possibility of another brain pattern being potentially useful for distinguishing PTSD,” said Florin Dolcos, a researcher at the University of Alberta in Canada, who also worked on the study.

No related posts.