PTSD

One project in TRACTS is looking at how experiences during childhood might influence how service members react to stress later in life. Studies have shown that people’s reactions to stress are in part due to how much stress and psychological trauma they were exposed to when they were children. Using questionnaires that measure stress during childhood and adolescence, we are hoping to see if and how this stress might affect the brain, the cardiovascular system, and performance on tests of attention and memory. This might help us create better tools to help service members cope with stress after deployment.