Researchers attending the second annual San Antonio Combat PTSD Conference report that as many as 50% of military personnel who have returned from combat with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome symptoms have been able to overcome their challenges without the use of psychtoropic drugs or other invasive treatments, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The conference is sponsored by the STRONG STAR Consortium, which is the largest group of medical professionals in the country which is dedicated solely to dealing with PTSD.
Dr. Alan Peterson, who is the director of STRONG STAR and a professor of psychiatry at UT Health San Antonio, says among the treatments which have proven successful involves immersing the veteran in the activities of daily life in the U.S.
"In order to have a good quality of life, people need to gradually get back to going into public, driving a car, going into a restaurant, going to the movies," he said.
Dr. Peterson said one of the roots of PTSD is the combat veteran has gotten used to seeing, hearing, and sensing danger all around, because that is the only way to survive in a war zone. He says it takes a lot of counseling and re-immersion in daily experiences for the veteran to fully comprehend that those dangers don't exist back home.
He says that is a good way to also fight clinical depression, which is another common symptom experienced along with PTSD. He says the veteran feels depression because he or she can't participate in daily activities.
"This annual conference offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from the leading experts about the latest research on combat-related PTSD and other psychological challenges that many of our veterans and active-duty military personnel face," he said.
Attending the conference in addition to researchers are the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, and hospitals and treatment centers.
Dr. Peterson says another proven way of fighting PTSD is to allow the veteran to openly discuss his or her experiences in combat. He says frequently, veterans are unwilling to 'open up' about what they have seen, especially to loved ones, and the act of not sharing those experiences can have a negative psychological effect.
He says he is planning to study the PTSD being suffered by survivors of this month's Las Vegas shooting.
He says that's because, unlike many combat veterans, they are talking freely about their experience, and are getting widespread support.
"Combat veterans, when something really bad happens, they don't want to tell anybody about it, they keep it all to themselves," he said. "But this, with all the support from family, friends, and the nation, it may be that they will have a better outcome than other groups."