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Ideally, trigger warnings allow individuals who have experienced trauma to be forewarned about material that may elicit unwanted memories of past traumatic events. However, some have hypothesized that trigger warnings have more costs than benefits, even for those with relevant traumas. 

Due to its relatively brief course of treatment, written exposure therapy may be a more efficient method in reducing PTSD symptoms among U.S. military members, according to a randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Network Open.

The five-year study, published JAMA Psychiatry, found that telepsychiatry in rural, federally qualified health centers was a resounding success for patients who had screened positive for bipolar disorder and/or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Heightened risk of PTSD occurred in MERS and SARS survivors. While data concerning COVID-19 is lacking, PTSD is known to occur in patient groups who undergo similar hospital courses, including ICU survivors, patients who are intubated and mechanically ventilated, and those that experience delirium. Research with patients who develop PTSD in the context of mild traumatic brain injury further suggests that PTSD may account for some or all of a patient’s subjective cognitive complaints and neuropsychological test performance. Recommendations are provided for assessing PTSD in the context of COVID-19.

Racial trauma can be defined as the cumulative traumatizing impact of racism on a racialized individual, which can include individual acts of racial discrimination combined with systemic racism, and typically includes historical, cultural, and community trauma as well.

Racism has been linked to a host of negative mental health conditions, but the connection between racial discrimination and PTSD symptoms appears to be the most robust.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a major problem among military veterans and civilians alike, yet its pathophysiology remains poorly understood. We performed a genome-wide association study and bioinformatic analyses, which included 146,660 European Americans and 19,983 African Americans in the US Million Veteran Program, to identify genetic risk factors relevant to intrusive reexperiencing of trauma, which is the most characteristic symptom cluster of PTSD. In European Americans, eight distinct significant regions were identified. Three regions had values of P < 5 × 10⁻¹⁰: CAMKV; chromosome 17 closest to KANSL1, but within a large high linkage disequilibrium region that also includes CRHR1; and TCF4. Associations were enriched with respect to the transcriptomic profiles of striatal medium spiny neurons. No significant associations were observed in the African American cohort of the sample. Results in European Americans were replicated in the UK Biobank data. These results provide new insights into the biology of PTSD in a well-powered genome-wide association study.

Assessment after a TBI in a combat zone may help providers identify those most at risk of suicide.