{"id":9452,"date":"2014-04-03T12:37:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T16:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=9452"},"modified":"2016-12-20T14:42:39","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T19:42:39","slug":"battling-ptsd-at-the-ucf-restores-clinic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/battling-ptsd-at-the-ucf-restores-clinic\/","title":{"rendered":"Battling PTSD at the UCF RESTORES Clinic"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"virtualiraqbig\"<\/a>

photo from fastcompany.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Just reading labels on the rows of little jars seems like enough to trigger a traumatic memory: CORDITE, DIESEL FUEL, BURNING TRASH, BODY ODOR, GUNPOWDER, BURNT HAIR. And if it doesn\u2019t, the carefully concocted scents inside \u2014 delivered to patients\u2019 nostrils with precision fans while they \u201csee\u201d corresponding visuals inside high-tech headsets \u2014 almost certainly will.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s exactly the idea behind this kind of exposure therapy \u2014 to deliberately return patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), via virtual reality, to the scenes and situations that haunt them. \u201cIf we do this repeatedly,\u201d says UCF psychology professor Deborah Beidel, \u201csay, \u2018okay, take me through what happened to you,\u2019 while the memory may remain \u2013 it\u2019s not erased \u2013it loses its ability to elicit anxiety and allows them to once again function in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s by no means an easy process though. With virtual reality headsets, audio equipment, scent machines and even a pad underfoot to simulate the vibration of explosions, Beidel and her colleagues and graduate students can recreate with almost disturbing fidelity the exact traumatic events that patients remember. On occasion, the responses have been intense enough that patients have vomited during therapy.<\/p>\n

Still, it works, as it did for Marine First Sergeant Doug Hester, who came to UCF RESTORES — an on-campus clinic for active duty personnel and veterans who developed PTSD as a result of serving in the Iraq and\/or Afghanistan conflicts \u2013 struggling with anxiety and hypervigilance and growing steadily more isolated from his former life and the people in it.<\/p>\n

After a 17-week program of virtual reality exposure therapy to address anxiety, combined with carefully designed group therapy to address anger, social isolation and depression, Hester says he\u2019s back to his old self. \u201cWe got in there and addressed the issue,\u201d he says, which was exactly what he wanted to do, instead of more traditional talk therapy or medication.<\/p>\n

In fact, that combination of intense exposure therapy with targeted group therapy works for a remarkable number of patients. At the end of the treatment \u2013 either the 17-week program Hester did or an intensive, three-week program \u2013 more than 60 percent of patients no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.<\/p>\n

The problem, to put it very simply, is there are too many Hesters and not enough Beidels. The $5 million Department of Defense grant that allowed Beidel to establish the clinic in 2011 only covers treatment of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, not those from other conflicts. Nor does it allow Beidel and her colleagues to treat other groups, like first responders, who actually suffer from PTSD at a higher rate than the military. \u201cWe turn away a lot of people,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Even among the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans that UCF RESTORES is funded to treat, the clinic is hardly able to scratch the surface of the overwhelming need for care. Patients — who are referred from all over the country by Veterans Administration personnel, private clinicians and on-base psychologists — go through treatment in groups of four to six at a time, which doesn\u2019t do much to defray the long waits — sometimes over a year — for PTSD treatment from the VA.<\/p>\n

The only realistic answer, of course, lies in exponentially increasing the number of clinicians trained in this new kind of treatment. \u201cA lot of clinicians are afraid to do exposure therapy with people with combat-related PTSD,\u201d says Beidel. \u201cThey don\u2019t know how to do it, and they believe the myths. We have data to show that even in this intensive program, people don\u2019t increase alcohol use, don\u2019t become more suicidal. None of those things that people think should happen, happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, alongside treating as many patients as possible, another of Beidel\u2019s primary objectives is training as many clinicians as possible. The way she sees it, her graduate students will leave campus and establish their own practices or clinics, or join the faculty at other universities, where they\u2019ll not only treat more patients but also train more clinicians, who in turn will train more, creating a ripple effect that has the potential to make a real difference.
\nAdditionally, Beidel hopes to bring postdoctoral fellows, medical students, practicing clinicians and others to the clinic to train them in the same interventions. The demand is already there, she says, just not the funding, since current grants don\u2019t cover training.<\/p>\n

That crucial Department of Defense grant runs out in November 2015, and at the point, absent some additional funding source, Beidel and her colleagues will essentially shut the doors. They\u2019ll continue their research, of course, and continue training graduate students, but there won\u2019t be any more money to pay for the costs of treatment \u2013 equipment, supplies, and the licensed clinicians required to keep the doors open. \u201cYou can\u2019t run a project with people with this level of emotional distress with graduate students,\u201d Beidel says, \u201cbecause they can\u2019t be available for emergencies, they can\u2019t take on the number of participants that are in need of treatment, they can\u2019t keep a clinic open 40 hours a week, which is what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"logo\"<\/a>HOW YOU CAN HELP<\/strong><\/p>\n

To ensure that UCF RESTORES can continue to serve patients and families, educate tomorrow\u2019s clinicians and develop more effective treatments, the UCF College of Sciences has established an ambitious fundraising goal: creation of a $6 million endowment to provide the kind of long-term support that will transform UCF RESTORES into a nationally recognized center for the treatment and prevention of trauma- and stress-related disorders.<\/p>\n

Although we welcome all forms of philanthropic support, gifts to build the program\u2019s endowment will have the greatest and most enduring impact by providing much-needed financial stability.<\/p>\n

All gifts will be handled through the UCF Foundation Inc. please look at their website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just reading labels on the rows of little jars seems like enough to trigger a traumatic memory: CORDITE, DIESEL FUEL, BURNING TRASH, BODY ODOR, GUNPOWDER, BURNT HAIR. And if it doesn\u2019t, the carefully concocted scents inside \u2014 delivered to patients\u2019 nostrils with precision fans while they \u201csee\u201d corresponding visuals inside high-tech headsets \u2014 almost certainly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":9454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[38,13,22,28],"tags":[327,894,968,980,2300,2670,2725,2783,2786,3127,3357,3457,3629,3723],"class_list":["post-9452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-news","category-psychology-departments","category-top-news","tag-army","tag-deborah-beidel","tag-donation","tag-doug-hester","tag-military","tag-philanthropic-gifts","tag-post-traumatic-stress-disorder","tag-psychology","tag-ptsd","tag-soldiers","tag-therapy","tag-ucf","tag-ucf-restores","tag-university-of-central-florida"],"yoast_head":"\nBattling PTSD at the UCF RESTORES Clinic - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/battling-ptsd-at-the-ucf-restores-clinic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Battling PTSD at the UCF RESTORES Clinic - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just reading labels on the rows of little jars seems like enough to trigger a traumatic memory: CORDITE, DIESEL FUEL, BURNING TRASH, BODY ODOR, GUNPOWDER, BURNT HAIR. 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