BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #15: Suicide hotline botched veteran’s cry for help. An investigation found critical breakdowns

Workers at the national Veterans Crisis Line mismanaged communication with a veteran who died by suicide within an hour of texting the hotline and failed for 10 years to establish protocols to save veterans’ text messages for future follow-up, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General.  

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BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #14: Research Reveals Potential Links from Brain Wounds to Parkinson’s and CTE

In a study of nearly 360,000 military veteran records released earlier this year in the Movement Disorders journal, researchers provide evidence that traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), both trauma-related disorders, are risk factors for Parkinson’s disease (PD).

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BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #13: Holistic Total Force Fitness to Maximize Performance

A senior retired US Navy SEAL officer has weighed in with a six part justification for ACTION to fight suicide. His remarks relate to short- and long-term needs for dealing with force readiness amidst known challenges in the SpecOps community. His remarks are in concert with the Interview with the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (SEAC), Ramón Colón-López that follows his remarks.

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BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #12: Links Between TBI/PTSD and Parkinson’s Disease in Military Veterans

New data validates an association between trauma-related disorders and the development of Parkinson’s disease in military veterans. In a study of nearly 360,000 military veteran records released earlier this year in the Movement Disorders journal, researchers provide evidence that traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), both trauma-related disorders, are risk factors for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Read more

BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #11: Suicide Risk, Mental Health and Military TBIs

Individuals with a history of military-identified TBI had significantly higher rates of new-onset mental health conditions than those without TBI. Increased risk for suicide was associated indirectly (through new-onset mental health diagnoses) and directly with history of TBI. Meaning. These findings suggest that conceptualizing exposures (physical, psychological) as events that accumulate over an individual’s lifetime and increase risk for negative outcomes (eg, suicide) may assist in identifying mechanisms underlying frequently co-occurring conditions, as well as evidence-based interventions. Read more

BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #6: Other Than Honorable (OTH) and Relation to BLAST, TBI / PTSD

This report brings you information about how service members are being separated from the service with Other Than Honorable (OTH) discharges. One organization, USJAG.org, is succeeding at ensuring that injured, ill, or wounded active-duty service members are separated with benefits, honors, and dignity intact.

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BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #5: Concussion, BLAST, TBI, CTE

This report brings you information about how HBOT can be used to help with symptoms due to BLAST damage, and advances in seeing “invisible” wounds. Remember: despite loose talk about how “almost all mild Traumatic Brain Injuries heal themselves,” evidence shows that 25% – 30% of TBIs lead to lifetime complications. Read more

BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #3: MEMORIAL DAY 2023

This report deviates a bit from a focus on Brain Wound healing. It steps up to a strategic level and asks a hard question: What is it going to take to change the way the VA thinks about Veteran overall health and wellness? More importantly, how do we as a society get institutions to open up to obvious truths and accept that there is an additional way to think more broadly and ACT to heal wounds, reduce costs and suffering, and restore lives and families?

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BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #2

This is the second of a weekly compendium of events, research, news, and insights about Brain Wounds: Concussion, TBI, PTSD. The focus is on Brain Wound healing and reduction of suicidal ideation; the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as a safe and effective treatment for brain wounds.

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BRAIN WOUND UPDATE #1

This is the first of a weekly compendium of events, research, news, and insights about Brain Wounds: Concussion, TBI, PTSD. The focus is on Brain Wound healing and reduction of suicidal ideation; the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as a safe and effective treatment for brain wounds; and the clinical and evidence-based proof of a new era in our understanding of how to improve brain health and Quality of Life after a brain wound. Read more