NATIONAL TRAGEDY Veterans return with scars, both seen and unseen. From left: Army Reserve Sgt. Jared Myers, Army Lt. Col. Kathy Champion, and former soldier Jeff Hanks return with PTSD. Evan Mettie, an Iraq war veteran, suff ered brain injuries from a bomb blast.
has a less than 30 percent chance of working, and most patients will drop out after two or three failures.” The PEER system’s more analyti-
Brain Scan CNS Response Inc. Brain Scan
cal approach takes much of the guess- work out of the equation. Instead of a 30 percent chance of getting it right, mental health professionals using the CNS Response system can boost their success rate to close to 80 percent, Car- penter says. While new to the mili-
CNS Response Inc. Brain Scan CNS Response Inc.
SCANNING FOR TROUBLE Through shading and colorizing, brain scans reveal possible abnormalities, which can pinpoint problem areas and lead to better diagnosis and treatment.
employed to treat such mental health issues, according to CNS Response CEO George Carpenter. “The tragedy of psychiatry is that
we have 130 diff erent drugs, and we don’t know which ones work in which brains,” Carpenter tells Newsmax. “We know you’re depressed, but what medication do we choose? Most doc- tors start out with a medication that
tary, the CNS Response service has been used in the treatment of civilians for several years. One of those patients, Brian Har- vey, credits the system with saving his life after seven years and four failed attempts at treatment for bipolar disorder. “I kept trying to fi nd something that would work,” Harvey says of his treatment prior to using CNS Response. He’s since become an enthusiastic advocate for the service. “If
I can help just one person avoid the battle I went through to get the right medication, it’s worth it.” The work at CNS Response, which
brands itself a “clinical decision sup- port company,” comes at a time of near crisis for America’s returning vet- erans. A Navy Times survey in 2012 found nearly 80 percent of Iran and Afghanistan vets reported having
symptoms of a combat-related men- tal health condition, and roughly half said they had suff ered a traumatic brain injury. More than 60 percent said they currently have depression — eight times the rate of the general U.S. population. The symptoms of traumatic brain
injury mimic PTSD with sleep prob- lems, forgetfulness, and trouble focus- ing on tasks that can make assimila- tion and civilian employment diffi - cult, says Dr. Judith Broder, founder of The Soldiers Project, a California- based free counseling service for mili- tary members.
S
ome 18 discharged veterans kill themselves each day, accord-
ing to the U.S. Department of Veter- ans Aff airs. That’s 540 lost lives per month, the equivalent of an entire Army battalion. “We need to pay attention to
the invisible wounds,” Broder says. “There’s also been an increase in domestic violence, in drug use, in car accidents, because veterans are suf- fering from PTSD and also traumatic brain injuries that interfere with day- to-day functioning.” “Doctors have made great strides
with physical medicine to save lives in war zones. Soldiers are coming back alive who wouldn’t have made it back before,” says Carpenter. “But we’ve not made the same kinds of progress in psychiatry. We now have to treat the invisible injuries.”
MAY 2013 | NEWSMAX 33
MALE WAR VETS/AP IMAGES / CHAMPION/ZUMAPRESS / SCANS/COURTESY OF CNS RESPONSE
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