News & Headlines

Athletes, often thought of as durable and tough, are vulnerable to PTSD.

Funded by an $11.5 million NIH grant, the CREATE Center aims to improve PTSD therapies through responsible AI development, working closely with mental health professionals and survivors to ensure a human-centered approach.

A former rugby player who was forced to give up the sport after suffering repeated concussions has spoken about his struggle with his mental health.

Nick Stephen, 30, started playing rugby in York aged eight, but had to walk away from the game aged 25 after his 13th concussion in three seasons.

He said leaving the sport behind "felt like my whole life had caved in" and he began suffering with migraines, tinnitus, nausea and panic attacks, and was later diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.

Two members of Congress and a veteran call to keep momentum going.

After decades of underinvestment in new approaches to treating post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions, the Department of Veterans Affairs is finally turning a corner. In late 2023, the VA announced its first investment in psychedelic research in more than 50 years, launching clinical trials of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. Now, we must keep the momentum going.

Monkeys who have been surrendered and people who have suffered trauma are helping each other learn to trust again.

People who serve on disturbing cases can suffer the effects for years after a trial ends.

In 2023, more than 13,000 Wisconsinites visited an  emergency department for a traumatic brain injury. We talk with a registered nurse and the unit manager for the Clearview Brain Injury Center in Juneau. She fills us in on what to know about brain injuries and the recovery process.

NFL players will no longer be able to use smelling salts to get a quick jolt of alertness on the field. On Tuesday, the NFL announced the substance was banned for safety reasons.

In addition to general safety concerns, the NFL noted the substance can mask symptoms of a concussion. Recent estimates suggest one concussion occurs every two NFL games.

The Midtown Manhattan shooter speculated that the condition was a cause of his mental illness. But drawing that conclusion is premature—and risky.

“CTE is linked to repetitive brain trauma and has a distinct pathology that can only be diagnosed at autopsy,” says Dr. Ross Zafonte, a principal investigator of the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University and executive vice dean at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

The changes that occur in traumatic brain injury are generally too small and too subtle to pick up on brain scans, unlike strokes, says Dr. Maura Boldrini, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. “We are talking more about microstrokes in which repeated shaking can cause the capillaries [tiny blood vessels in the brain] to break. This leads to some leaking into the brain and starts the process of inflammation, which can lead to the death of brain cells and brain neurons.”

Somatic, mind-body therapies could bridge the disconnect to heal from trauma.

The gunman accused of walking into a Park Avenue skyscraper in Manhattan and killing four people suspected he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE — a degenerative brain disease often associated with football players.