Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has been identified as the soldier accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Editor's note: Dr. Charles Raison, CNNhealth's mental health expert, is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He has not personally examined the suspect in the Afghanistan mass shootings, Robert Bales, but has used news accounts as the basis for his views. (CNN) -- Q: Sgt. Robert Bales has been accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians. He served three tours in Iraq before this and his lawyer says he may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury. What's the link between violence and those disorders? A: Psychiatrists understand some types of aberrant behavior pretty well and can do things to help resolve it. But, unfortunately, in other instances -- and often the most interesting ones -- we can only mumble generalities that require no special expertise and that offer no hope for a diagnosis or treatment. Take the case of U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of massacring 16 Afghan men, women and children while they slept unprotected in their village. The first thing a psychiatrist would want to know is … Continue reading →

The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments are using their partnered programs to identify and treat traumatic brain injury, representatives of both departments said Monday during a roundtable discussion on new advances in the field. Kathy Helmick, deputy director for traumatic brain injury, or TBI, at the Defense Centers of Excellence, emphasized the importance of diagnosing brain trauma early, whether its the invisible injury such as a concussion, or a more severe form of TBI. The DoD goes hand-in-hand with the military services with early detection, understanding the barriers, and having the collaborators and partners in advancing the science, Helmick said. We want to eliminate undetected mild brain injury, and we do that with aggressive screening programs, she said. Helmick said many academic institutions and agencies collaborate with VA and DoD on TBI to further the methods by which service members with TBI are treated. The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta are two such agencies. Helmick pointed out that standardized care for those with TBI is crucial. The more we standardize care, those tools help where were vulnerable (with) repeat concussions, she said. We know very little from the civilian world … Continue reading →

Newswise Rehabilitation experts from NYU Langone Medical Center participated in several events in conjunction with the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) to mark March as Brain Injury Awareness Month. A world-leader in rehabilitation medicine and research, NYU Langone clinicians and researchers committed to reducing the incidence of injury and improving the lives of those living with brain injuries. As part of this awareness month they participated in a series of local and national events, including: March 21 Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill. Rusk research and clinical experts joined members of BIAA, politicians, other medical experts and patient advocates in Washington, DC to discuss the state of brain injury in the U.S., new research and advances in care and rehabilitation. March 15-April 14 Whakd and then everything was different. Artist Eliette Markhbein, in collaboration with the Brain Injury Association of America and the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, will share her unique portraits of well-known survivors of TBI in an exhibit that kicks off a national tour at the NYU Langone Medical Centers MSB Gallery at 550 First Avenue in New York City. Learn more at http://www.biausa.org/tbi-portrait-project.htm March 28 Head Injuries and Concussion in Sports: What You … Continue reading →

By Shar Adams Epoch Times Staff Created: March 22, 2012 Last Updated: March 22, 2012 Dr. Bart Winter, Fort Sill Traumatic Brain Injury clinic physician, examines a "H.E.A.D.S. UP Warrior" banner that lists the signs of a concussion with Dr. Jason Albano, TBI neuropsychologist, and Public Health Service Lt. Dennis Ward, TBI program director. Staff members at the clinic work with soldiers wounded by improvised explosive device blasts or other head trauma in combat. (Ben Sherman, Fort Sill) Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has long been underreported and misunderstood, but its increasing prevalence in the United States, particularly in the military, is engendering calls for more focus on it. Approximately 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury in the United States annually reports the Centers of Disease Control Prevention (CDC), and traumatic brain injury now accounts for over three-quarters of all injury related deaths. Within U.S defense forces, mild traumatic brain injury has become the signature injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, largely due to the improvised explosive device (IED). With improvements in protective armor and better medical care, soldiers are returning from close proximity IED explosions, but with impacts to the brain not yet clearly understood, according to … Continue reading →

Public release date: 22-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Anne DeLotto Baier abaier@health.usf.edu 813-974-3303 University of South Florida (USF Health) Tampa, FL (March 22, 2012) -- Immediate skull reconstruction following trauma that penetrates or creates an indentation in the skull can aggravate brain damage inflicted by the initial injury, a study by a University of South Florida research team reports. Using a rat model for moderate and severe traumatic brain injury, the researchers also showed that a delay of just two days in the surgical repair of skull defects resulted in significantly less brain swelling and damage. The study was published March 16, 2012 in the online journal PloS ONE. While further investigation is needed, the findings have implications for the acute treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), considered the signature wound of soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the study's principal investigator Cesar Borlongan, PhD, professor and vice chair of research at the USF Health Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair "A double-edged sword," is how Borlongan describes the inflammation and subsequent swelling of brain tissue that occurs immediately following TBI. When the brain is initially penetrated -- by a bullet, shrapnel, other debris, … Continue reading →