Brain vs Mind; TBI vs PTSD in Military Veterans and First RespondersCarol L Henricks MD, Neurologist
Summary:
What is your brain versus your mind? Your brain is a physical organ made
up of nerve cells, astrocytes, blood vessels with a blood-brain barrier, and
unique metabolic environments Your mind is the complex set of mental
processes that allows you to think, feel, perceive remember, and imagine: it
includes both conscious and unconscious processes.
Then what is TBI versus PTSD?
Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI is brain injury (a result of
multiple concussions / blasts) that is caused by an outside force such as a
blast or blunt trauma. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is the
designation for a group of symptoms that represent brain injury.
What are the symptoms that lead to a diagnosis of PTSD? Visual
disturbance. Cognitive processing difficulties. Negative and unstable
emotions including anxiety, depression, irritability, rage and suicidality.
Sleep disturbances including nightmares and night terrors. Dizziness.
Recognize these symptoms? These symptoms are all symptoms consistent
with TBI.
Receiving a diagnosis is dependent on what kind of testing is done and what
kind of doctor is making the diagnosis. When a neurologist evaluates a
combat veteran using sophisticated brain imaging (like a Brain MRI – DTI
– NQ) the brain injury is identified. A brain injury is a wound that needs to
be healed. When a psychologist / psychiatrist or other practitioner evaluates a
combat veteran and discusses their symptoms, they are diagnosed with
PTSD. PTSD symptoms are treated with medications and talk therapies.
Evaluating the causal pathology of the symptoms leads to different
treatments. Medicating symptoms never result in healing the brain injury.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is the only treatment that has ever
been shown to heal a brain injury condition. HBOT supports the ability of
the brain to heal itself, as it is designed to do. Brain health is mental health.