Effective treatments are available to help people recover from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to Karestan Koenen, professor of psychiatric epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In a May 23 interview on WBUR, Koenen shared her personal experience with PTSD and how it motivated her to become a trauma researcher. After being sexually assaulted and becoming severely depressed, she found that therapy helped her to get better.

There are striking parallels between the two syndromes – and scientists hope the link could help to unravel the mysteries of both.

An independent advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration rejected the use of MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder on Tuesday, highlighting the unparalleled regulatory challenges of a novel therapy using the drug commonly known as Ecstasy.

Researchers have developed biodegradable, wireless sensors that can monitor changes in the brain following a head injury or cancer treatment, without invasive surgery. In rats and pigs, the soft sensors performed just as well as conventional wired sensors for up to a month after being injected under the skull. The gel-based sensors measure key health markers, including temperature, pH and pressure. “It is quite likely this technology will be useful for people in medical settings,” says study co-author Yueying Yang, a biomedical engineer at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, China. The findings were published today in Nature1.

The risks of traumatic brain injuries in American football are well known, but some researchers have found that sports involving horses are also a leading cause. These injuries can be fatal and usually occur during falls of either the rider or both the horse and the rider. Last month, British event rider Georgie Campbell died after a fall while competing in the Bicton International Horse Trials in Devon, England. Her death has renewed focus on the perennial issue of safety in the sport.

A new rapid test that checks for traumatic brain injuries using a single drop of blood is expected to make its debut in the military in the coming months. The product marks one of the most significant steps forward for TBI patients’ care in the past 20 years, Lt. Col. Bradley Dengler, an Army neuroscientist who directs the Military Traumatic Brain Initiative at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, said in a recent release announcing the product’s approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

Post-traumatic stress disorder closes people off. They withdraw — often reluctant to talk about what they’ve experienced and unable to trust others or themselves. But many leading treatments for the condition require just that. The treatments for PTSD — including several forms of psychotherapy and medication — are effective for many patients, but they don’t work for everyone. They can be expensive. Sometimes, they can be so distressing that patients stop the treatment before it’s complete.

The neurologic long COVID symptoms of some patients, like brain fog and memory loss, may be caused by lingering virus—in the gut, of all places. That’s according to a new study by University of Pennsylvania researchers published Monday in the journal Cell. Researchers say the findings could lead to a treatment for a disease that so far has none.

No new treatment for PTSD has been approved for more than 20 years, and this one, using an illegal drug known as Ecstasy, has been closely watched.

For military members and veterans who have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adding a service dog to their usual care could reduce the severity of PTSD symptoms, feelings of anxiety, and lower depression while enhancing their quality of life and psychosocial functioning, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The trial, which is the largest nationwide study comparing service dog partnerships to usual care alone, included 156 military members and veterans diagnosed with PTSD.