First PTSD Study During Warfare Provides Early Symptom Indicators, Israeli Researchers Say
September 16, 2018
“This article was re-published with permission from NoCamels.com – Israeli Innovation News.
Studies on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the mental health condition experienced by some following a traumatic event which can bring on flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety, often focus on the effects of the condition, the development and testing of treatment, and any preventative factors. Few, if any, have studied the process of developing PTSD and its symptoms as they may be unfolding.
Israeli researchers say they have conducted the first study that looks at PTSD in real-time – in the context of war. It showed that those with a sensitive startle response to everyday situations, such as loud noises, were at higher risk of experiencing symptoms, like difficulty sleeping and concentrating over the next 12 hours.
The innovative research was conducted by the University of Haifa and NATAL, the Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center for victims of terror and war, and took place over the course of Operation Protective Edge, the seven-week conflict and military operation launched in and around the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014 in the wake of daily rocket barrages by Palestinian groups.
The study, whose results were revealed earlier this year, began on the eighth day of the conflict and looked at 96 civilians living in areas where they had no more than 60 seconds to enter protected spaces following rocket alerts. The participants filled out daily surveys on their experiences.
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