PTSD News

June 21, 2025

Top Headlines

Brain Training Game Offers New Hope for Drug-Free Pain Management

June 3, 2025 — A trial of an interactive game that trains people to alter their brain waves has shown promise as a treatment for nerve pain -- offering hope for a new generation of drug-free ...

Depression Linked to Physical Pain Years Later

May 21, 2025 — Middle-aged and older adults who experience pain are more likely to have had worsening symptoms of depression up to eight years before the pain began, according to a new ...

Landmark Report Reveals Key Challenges Facing Adolescents

May 20, 2025 — Poor mental health, rising obesity rates, exposure to violence and climate change are among the key challenges facing our adolescents today, according to a global ...

How Serious Is Your Brain Injury? New Criteria Will Reveal More

May 20, 2025 — Trauma centers nationwide will begin to test a new approach for assessing traumatic brain injury (TBI) that is expected to lead to more accurate diagnoses and more appropriate treatment and follow-up for patients. The new framework expands the ...

Experimental Painkiller Could Outsmart Opioids -- Without the High

May 19, 2025 — A study shows a non-opioid pain reliever blocks pain at its source -- calming specific nerve signals that send pain messages to the brain. In mice, the compound SBI-810 eased pain from surgery, bone fractures, and nerve injury without causing ...

Relieve Your Pain With a Psychologist or an App

May 17, 2025 — Psychological treatment can relieve pain. New research now shows what happens in the brain -- and what specific treatments psychologists, doctors and patients can turn ...

Cyberbullying in Any Form Can Be Traumatizing for Kids

May 15, 2025 — New research shows that cyberbullying should be classified as an adverse childhood experience due to its strong link to trauma. Even subtle forms -- like exclusion from group chats -- can trigger PTSD-level distress. Nearly 90% of teens experienced ...

New Chronic Pain Therapy Retrains the Brain to Process Emotions

May 7, 2025 — Researchers have created an effective therapy for chronic pain that reduces pain intensity by focusing on emotional ...

PTSD Patients Show Long-Term Benefits With Vagus Nerve Stimulation

May 5, 2025 — In a recent clinical study, patients with treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder were symptom-free up to six months after completing traditional therapy paired with vagus nerve ...

Spanking and Other Physical Discipline Lead to Exclusively Negative Outcomes for Children in Low And Middle-Income Countries

May 5, 2025 — Physically punishing children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has exclusively negative outcomes -- including poor health, lower academic performance, and impaired social-emotional ...

Dopamine Signals When a Fear Can Be Forgotten

May 4, 2025 — A new study shows how a dopamine circuit between two brain regions enables mice to extinguish fear after a peril has ...

Study Links Childhood Trauma to Increased Substance Use and Unexpected Effects on Heart Rate and Blood Pressure in Adolescents

May 4, 2025 — Childhood trauma significantly increases the likelihood of engaging in harmful alcohol consumption, smoking and illicit drug use, by the age of ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:59am EDT

A Repurposed Anti-Inflammatory Drug May Help Treat Alcohol Use Disorder and Related Pain

Apr. 22, 2025 — A preclinical study finds that a drug already FDA-approved for treating inflammatory conditions may help reduce both alcohol intake and pain ...

Apr. 16, 2025 — A new study suggests that climate trauma -- such as experiencing a devastating wildfire -- can have lasting effects on cognitive ...

Primate Mothers Display Different Bereavement Response to Humans

Apr. 16, 2025 — Macaque mothers experience a short period of physical restlessness after the death of an infant, but do not show typical human signs of grief, such as lethargy and appetite loss, finds a new study by ...

Police Officers Face Twice the Risk of Traumatic Brain Injuries and PTSD, Survey Finds

Apr. 14, 2025 — Police officers are more than twice as likely to have traumatic brain injuries compared to the general ...

Key Brain Networks Behind Post-Stroke Urinary Incontinence Identified

Apr. 13, 2025 — A new study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals the neural mechanisms that contribute to urinary incontinence, a common condition affecting stroke survivors that has a ...

Researchers Identify Safer Pathway for Pain Relief

Apr. 9, 2025 — Scientists have helped identify a novel drug compound that selectively activates pain-altering receptors in the body, offering a potentially safer alternative to conventional pain ...

Estrogen and Progesterone Stimulate the Body to Make Opioids

Apr. 7, 2025 — Female hormones can suppress pain by making immune cells near the spinal cord produce opioids, a new study has found. This stops pain signals before they get to the brain. The discovery could help ...

Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Improve Chronic Low Back Pain

Apr. 7, 2025 — Eight weeks of mindfulness or cognitive behavioral therapy were associated with improved pain, physical function and quality of life and reduced daily opioid dose in adults with chronic low back pain ...

PTSD Can Undermine Healthy Couple Communication When People Fear Their Emotions

Mar. 31, 2025 — Fear of emotions among couples with PTSD is associated with unproductive communication, according to a new ...

Change in Oxygen Standards for Trauma Patients?

Mar. 31, 2025 — A recent study finds most critically injured patients can recover with less supplemental oxygen than has previously been ...

A Rubber Hand Alleviates Pain

Mar. 18, 2025 — If a person hides their own hand and focuses on a rubber hand instead, they may perceive it as part of their own body under certain conditions. What sounds like a gimmick could one day be used to ...

Study Finds Unique Brain Changes Linked to Witnessing Trauma

Mar. 18, 2025 — Researchers discovered distinct molecular differences in how the brain processes directly experienced versus witnessed trauma -- a finding that could lead to more targeted treatments for ...

'It Still Hurts, She Said': Why Pain Medication May Not Be as Effective for Women as It Is for Men

Mar. 17, 2025 — A new study may help to explain why there is an over-representation of women experiencing chronic pain compared to men and why pain medication may not be as effective for women as it is for men. ...

Not Knowing What to Expect Can Make Pain Feel Worse

Mar. 14, 2025 — When the brain doesn't know what to expect we perceive pain to be worse, a new study shows. The study may help shape more effective ways to manage pain in the ...

Nature Relieves Physical Pain: Pain-Related Signals in the Brain Are Reduced

Mar. 13, 2025 — Neuroscientists have shown that experiencing nature can alleviate acute physical pain. Surprisingly, simply watching nature videos was enough to relieve pain. Using functional magnetic resonance ...

Cannabis Terpenes Offer Potential New Way to Treat Fibromyalgia Pain

Mar. 12, 2025 — A recently completed study found that certain terpenes in Cannabis sativa are effective at relieving post-surgical and fibromyalgia pain in preclinical ...

Decoding the Neural Basis of Affective Empathy: How the Brain Feels Others' Pain

Mar. 10, 2025 — A research team has uncovered key insights into how the brain processes others' distress. Using miniature endoscopic calcium imaging, the researchers identified specific neural ensembles in the ...

Worldwide Study Finds High Rates of Depression and Anxiety in People With Chronic Pain

Mar. 10, 2025 — A novel analysis of more than 375 published studies concluded that the association between chronic pain and rates of depression and anxiety is staggering. The study found that 40% of adults with ...

Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers Linked to Improved Recovery from Concussion

Mar. 5, 2025 — People who take over-the-counter pain relievers after a concussion may recover faster than those who do not take pain relievers, according to a preliminary ...

Why Some Are More Susceptible to Developing PTSD Symptoms Than Others

Mar. 5, 2025 — People with a more active amygdala (an area in the brain involved in processing information relevant to threats) are more likely to develop PTSD symptoms after experiencing trauma than people with a ...

Compound Harnesses Cannabis' Pain-Relieving Properties Without Side Effects

Mar. 5, 2025 — Researchers have developed a compound that relieves pain in mice but doesn't affect the brain, thereby avoiding mind-altering side effects and abuse potential. The custom-designed molecule, ...

How the Brain Distinguishes Between Pain and Itch

Mar. 4, 2025 — A research team has uncovered the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of pain and itch in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This study provides new insights into how the brain ...

Research Indicates Effects of PTSD on Body Vary by Culture

Feb. 28, 2025 — Anthropologists, social scientists and veterans are analyze the relationship between the hormones cortisol and testosterone and PTSD in a non-industrialized ...

Violence Alters Human Genes for Generations, Researchers Discover

Feb. 27, 2025 — First study of its kind reveals epigenetic signatures of violence passesd to ...

The Brain Perceives Unexpected Pain More Strongly

Feb. 21, 2025 — Researchers used visual threat manipulation in the virtual reality environment and thermal stimulation to investigate how the brain perceives pain. They found that the brain perceives pain more ...

Continuing Vs. Discontinuing Opioid Medications Prescriptions for Adults With Chronic Pain

Feb. 20, 2025 — With the goal of informing clinician practice, a new study explores the harms and benefits of continuing and of discontinuing the long-term prescription of opioid medicines to adults with chronic ...

New Therapy Reduces Reoffending in Male Offenders With Antisocial Personality Disorder

Feb. 18, 2025 — A new psychological therapy has been found to reduce rates of violence and aggression among male offenders with antisocial personality disorder ...

Cracking the Alzheimer's Code: How Brain Trauma Triggers Disease

Feb. 12, 2025 — A study reveals that traumatic brain injury alters the small vessels in the brain, resulting in an accumulation of amyloid beta -- a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. The findings suggest that ...

Fear of Breast Cancer Recurrence: Impact and Coping With Being in a Dark Place

Feb. 6, 2025 — A new study of breast cancer survivors has found this psychosocial challenge impacts almost every important domain of their lives -- the emotional, behavioral, cognitive, relational and professional. ...

Pickleball Program Boosts Health and Wellness for Cancer Survivors

Feb. 4, 2025 — A new community-based pickleball program called Project Rally is helping cancer survivors improve their physical and social well-being, according to a recent pilot study. The program has shown strong ...