Center for Stress & Anxiety Disorders in Bazaar
The work of the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders is featured in the latest issue of Bazaar magazine in an article on Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Center Director Edward Blanchard, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology, is the principal investigator in a $900,000 study funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health on PTSD in motor vehicle accident victims. Blanchard estimates that about 20 to 25 percent of those involved in serious traffic accidents suffer PTSD.
The Bazaar article featured an interview with one of Blanchard�s patients who suffered multiple injuries in a car crash in January of 1994. After the accident, she suffered repeated nightmares about the crash, lost her temper over trivial things and found it hard to concentrate. Then she heard about the work of the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders, came in to be evaluated and was diagnosed with PTSD. She was then successfully treated.
PTSD describes an array of mental and emotional symptoms that people sometimes experience after a life-threatening trauma or other similar shock to the system. Symptoms include repeated disturbing thoughts about what happened, fearful reactions to situations that are reminders of the event, nightmares or flashbacks, irritability or being constantly on edge � all for more than a month.
"PTSD is difficult to identify because there are a host of symptoms that reflect it, and different people have different symptoms," said Blanchard. He said that up to two-thirds of those who develop PTSD recover on their own within a year. But a sizable portion continue to struggle with the disorder for years. Unfortunately, most PTSD goes untreated, partly because people suffering from it don�t recognize the symptoms.
In 1980, when the psychiatric community made PTSD an official diagnosis, it was largely considered a war veteran�s disease. But research since then has shown that PTSD affects one in 10 Americans during the course of a lifetime, and can stem from an array of trauma that might include rape or sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence, earthquakes and floods.
"People who have this problem need to know that they�re not going crazy," said Blanchard. "It�s fairly common. Women, especially, are about twice as likely as men to experience PTSD. But what�s important is that we can provide help in a relatively brief time."
Blanchard�s NIMH study, now in its second year, will lay the groundwork for new treatments, including cognitive behavior therapy, to help PTSD sufferers. He said he is two years away from publishing his findings in a scholarly journal. In the meantime, he said, he is pleased to receive the visibility in Bazaar, whose readers might include PTSD sufferers.
"It�s not the usual place where we academics publish our results, but I suspect we�ll get more responses," he laughed. He added that he and his colleagues are seeking more accident victims for the study.
To be eligible for the study, an accident survivor must have received medical care for his or her injuries, and the accident must have occurred at least six months earlier but no more than two years ago. All assessments and treatment are free. The therapy is by licensed psychologists from the community and lasts about ten weeks. Evaluations are done by Blanchard or his staff at the Center, which is near Stuyvesant Plaza.
Criminal Justice Scholars in Two Conferences
The School of Criminal Justice will be hosting two conferences next month. The first, "Assessing Capital Punishment in New York State: Empirical, Political, Historical, and Legal Issues," will be held on Friday, April 17, in Draper Hall 313 at 10 a.m.
Guest speakers include the University�s James Acker and Stephen Wasby, Hugo Adam Bedau of Tufts University, Ursula Bentele of Brooklyn Law School, Robert Blecker of New York Law School, Catherine Cerulli of both the University at Albany and Buffalo Law School, Scott Christianson of the New York State Defenders Association, Deborah Denno of Fordham Law School, Stephen Garvey of Cornell Law School, Herbert Haines of SUNY-Cortland, Barry Latzer of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, William Lofquist of SUNY-Geneseo, Michael Mello of Vermont Law School, and Ronald Tabak of the New York City law firm Skaden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
The second conference, "�Zero Tolerance� Policing Initiatives: Legal and Policy Perspectives," is scheduled for Friday, April 24, at 10 a.m. in Milne 200. Scheduled participants include Herman Goldstein of the University of Wisconsin, George Kelling of Harvard and Rutgers universities, Debra Livingston of Columbia Law School, Clifford Shearing of the University of Toronto, and Samuel Walker of the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Both conferences are free and open to the public.