Study Shows Traumatic Stress Linked to Biological Indicator

I read an interesting article today on SF Gate. A study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs looked at biological stress indicators of police academy recruits before and after traumatic events and discovered a connection between waking cortisol levels and more stressful reactions to trauma:

The study found that recruits with a higher “cortisol awakening response” — or a higher level of cortisol after waking up — tended to have stronger reactions to stress shortly after a traumatic event. The reactions — including intrusive memories, increased heart rate and breathing as well as conscious avoidance of the event — are all symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, except in a shorter time frame.

Researchers expect this information can be used to better understand the different levels of vulnerability to stress and trauma as well as to treat and prevent stress disorders.

Read the full article by Victoria Colliver on SFGate.com: Traumatic Stress Linked to Biological Indicator

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Comments 2

  • I seldom comment, but i did a few searching and
    wound up here Study Shows Traumatic Stress Linked to Biological Indicator.
    And I actually do have a few questions for you if it’s allright. Could it be only me or does it give the impression like a few of these responses come across like written by brain dead visitors? 😛 And, if you are posting at additional places, I’d like to keep up with everything new you have to post.

    Could you make a list of all of all your public sites like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed?

    • Hi,
      Thanks for visiting. Feel free to post your questions and we’ll do our best to answer. Not sure the other readers will appreciate your referring to them as “brain dead.” We try to keep the site respectful of those who are dealing with this kind of trauma, as much as possible, so please keep that in mind for the future. Also, just wondering if this is spam, since there are no other comments on this particular post. I guess if it is, you probably won’t respond to that…

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