A 0|S1|XC1|V| S1\|| . C0H A 0|S1|XC1|V| S1\|| .

C0H

fter fghtlng fercely for hls country on the

buttlefeld, Peter Chlurelll, u retlred U.S. Army
Cenerul who served us the ¸znd vlce Chlef of
Stuñ of the U.S. Army, fghts unother cruclul buttle:
µosttruumutlc stress dlsorder (P1SL). 8ut µerhuµs,
the more uccurute term should be: µost truumutlc
stress (P1S) .
Cne of the drlvlng motlvutlons behlnd hls determln
utlon ls µersonul. "l huve u mom golng through
dementlu und Alzhelmer's und thut ls, to me, one of
the reusons,' he stutes, but hls muln motlve urlses
slmµly from the stutlstlcs. "vhen l becume vlce Chlef
of Stuñ of the Army ln zcc8, they brlefed me und told
me thut the most µrevulent wound comlng from lruq
und Afghunlstun wus P1S,' he recounts, "ve huve u
tendency to focus on vlslble wounds of conflct, but ln
reullty the most µrevulent wounds ure truumutlc bruln
lnjury (18l) und µost truumutlc stress. 1he number of
servlcemen und women who ure uñected wlth thls ls
¸.µ mllllon.'
Mllllons of dollurs ln funds huve been sµent on
reseurch ln the lust few yeurs÷but lt's not enough.
"A hyµothesls followed by u smull reseurch study on
just u few µutlents, ls comµletely lnsumclent to dellver
uny lmµroved dlugnostlcs or treutment to µutlents. ve
cun't even dlugnose P1S wlth unythlng other thun u
serles of questlons from u munuul÷und those
dlugnoses uren't ulwuys rlght. vhut we need ure
blomurkers,' Cenerul Chlurelll declures, "18l und P1S
ure just dlmcult to dlugnose, und lt's urgent thut we
develoµ better dlugnostlc tools lmmedlutely. l wus ut u
conference the other duy, und u Nutlonul lnstltutes of
Eeulth (NlE) guy got uµ und suld there ure z6 dlñerent
defnltlons of truumutlc bruln lnjury÷we cun't get
unyone to ugree on exuctly whut lt ls. vhen sclence ls
thut murky, you've got u huge µroblem. And 18l ls u
huge µroblem ulreudy: ¸¸,ccc µeoµle dle from 18l ln
the U.S. every yeur.'
More reseurch needs to be done. "l thlnk the blggest
mlsconceµtlon ubout these lnvlslble wounds ls thut
µeoµle belleve lt's somethlng ln your heud, you cun get
over lt. 1hese ure reul lnjurles. 'ust becuuse you cun't
see them doesn't meun they're not reul, und thut's the
whole stlgmu lnvolved wlth ull thls,' he stresses,
"Most of the work thut hus been done on P1S hus
been done on women who were sexuully ussuulted
becuuse thut grouµ wus und stlll ls the lurgest thut
suñers from P1S.'
And to thlnk ubout P1S ln terms of soldlers ls, to suy
the leust, extremely soberlng. "1o tell u soldler who
hud to µlck uµ the body µleces of u best buddy who
wus next to hlm who got blown uµ whlle he bunged
hls heud÷to suy thut he hus u dlsorder, l thlnk thut's
just wrong,' Chlurelll declures.
8ut even ln other contexts, the negutlve
connotutlon ussocluted wlth "dlsorder' mukes
renumlng P1SL u better oµtlon. "vhen you're u
footbull µluyer wlth u hlstory of concusslons you don't
wunt to be told you huve u dlsorder. ve should stoµ
uslng words llke thut to descrlbe P1S. Post1ruumutlc
Stress ls un lnjury, not u dlsorder. And llke uny other
lnjury, lt needs to be uccurutely dlugnosed ln order to
be treuted µroµerly. ve cun't do thut toduy becuuse
we huven't done the reseurch,' he emµhuslzes.
8ut desµlte the stutus quo, there's defnltely hoµe
for the future. "1eum Sclence÷look ut whut we dld
wlth the erudlcutlon of AlLS ln thls country. lt wusn't
hundled the normul wuy we dld reseurch,' Chlurelll
detulls, "Congress creuted u µubllcjµrlvute µurtnershlµ,
they suld we've got to uttuck thls dlseuse dlñerently,
we wunt you to work together to fnd out whut cuuses
0NL MlNu Cont|nued
ulds, shure lnfo wlth euch other. 1ell µhurmuceutlcul
comµunles when they've hlt u deud end to tell other
µhurmuceutlcul comµunles so they don't hlt u deud end.
vhen you ldentlfy u vlrus, don't just keeµ the
ldentlfcutlon of the vlrus us u slngle lnstltutlon or
scoµe, shure lt wlth everyone so everyone cun work on
u solutlon to curlng the vlrus.'
tukes whut we've leurned from thls
eµlsode, trunsformlng the stutus quo lnto u reseurch
envlronment conduclve to good reseurch. "1he wuy lt
works now ls thut thousunds of reseurchers uµµly for
thousunds of smull government grunts to µerform
smull reseurch studles. 1hey keeµ thelr dutu µrlvute und
hoµe to µubllsh u µuµer ln u sclence journul. 1hut's the
goul of thls tyµe of reseurch. Nobody shures dutu,
nobody studles u lurge enough grouµ of µutlents for
long enough to come uµ wlth results thut cun be
lmmedlutely trunsluted lnto lmµroved µutlent
outcomes.' Chlurelll exµlulns, " ls dlñerent.
ve're ull ubout shurlng dutu und fgurlng out how we
cun move to better dlugnostlcs und treutments ln ¸ to ¸
yeurs ruther thun ¸c or µc yeurs from now, lf ut ull.'
ln the end, lt ull bolls down to one thlng. "Cur
number one µrlorlty ls to helµ µutlents. ve belleve the
best wuy to helµ the most µutlents, suve the most llves,
ls to do the blgdutu reseurch now so thut we
understund bruln dlseuse the wuy we understund other
mujor dlseuses,' Chlurelll stutes, "Alzhelmer's,
Purklnson's, A.L.S., dementlu÷they ure ull reluted, they
ure ull bruln dlseuses. ve ure brlnglng together ull the
greut orgunlzutlons und comµunles ln the feld to
uccomµllsh somethlng substuntlul, somethlng thut wlll
revolutlonlze bruln sclence ln u wuy thut ls truly
meunlngful to those wlth the most lnterest: µutlents.'
6tsttsî Ft|tt
3Y |/C¬|| SC|C|
SS,000 People Jle
from 1ruumutlc
Bruln Injury
Fvery Yeur
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