News & Headlines

About a quarter of U.S. service members and veterans who start psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) quit before they finish treatment, according to a recent study, with experts pushing for more effective long-term approaches to sustain mental health treatments.

One Washington-based Indigenous organization wants to close a nation-wide research gap on how many Native women sustain brain injuries during domestic and sexual abuse.

“We have many people who have experienced incredible head trauma that was never diagnosed,” Urban Indian Health Institute Director Abigail Echo-Hawk said. “They were never able to see a physician or they never got a screening for potential traumatic brain injury.”

“When I went to go look and find the most compelling and recent data on traumatic brain injury within Indian Country and with Indigenous peoples, I couldn't find anything specific,” she told SPR News.

As the saying goes, “Never underestimate the power of fitness,” and Erica Liermann is a prime example of that message. 

After being diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, she searched for some type of healthy outlet to overcome her depression. Working out became her core therapy, and these days, far removed from the Baghdad desert, she’s helping others through fitness. 

A neuroscientist, he employed a battery of high-tech tools in devising a fast-acting therapy that targets the area of the brain where depression originates.

Colorado researchers think they might be able to help veterans with traumatic brain injury and PTSD by improving the health of their gut microbiome.

For many veterans, the battle doesn’t end when they come home. The invisible wounds of combat, like PTSD, can leave some feeling withdrawn or isolated. A new documentary, “In Waves and War,” follows a group of former Navy SEALs as they find healing through an unconventional tool: guided psychedelic therapy. Ali Rogin speaks with the film’s director and one of the Navy SEALs featured for more.

Every day, thousands of people use indoor gun ranges that are designed to limit the hazards of target shooting, including lead exposure and stray bullets. But shooting indoors poses another hazard that has been almost entirely overlooked: Concussive blast waves that can damage the brain.

I’m a public health expert who spent 18 years as a scientist at the CDC. Most of my time at the CDC was spent in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, one of the hardest hit of the agency’s programs. One critical injury center program that was cut from CDC in April is its HEADS UP program, which provides resources and training aimed at protecting kids from concussions and other serious brain injuries.

"Learning BSL has helped me say words that I cannot speak," says Tina who fell down a flight of stairs in 2018 and was in a coma for six weeks. The accident caused a traumatic brain injury that dramatically changed her life, leaving her struggling to speak. Now 59, Tina says learning sign language has given her a new way to communicate.

Canadian Royal Purple raising awareness of brain injuries from intimate partner violence

Returning soldiers are suffering in record numbers, and the military is scrambling to address an issue once taboo in Israel.

Rick Doblin discusses FDA's recent feedback on MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, emphasizing transparency and the therapy's potential in clinical practice.