Twin Study Finds PTSD Is as Real as It Gets

(Oct. 1) -- It's something thousands of veterans, not to mention Americans from all walks of life, will already tell you: Post-traumatic stress is a legitimate disorder, and trauma is the culprit.

Now a new study on twins has reached the same conclusion, and researchers hope to close the door on debate over just how viable a PTSD diagnosis really is.

"It's a nail in the coffin," lead researcher Dr. Roger Pitman told Reuters. "It's been argued by some that PTSD is not a bona fide disorder, that these people are just maladjusted and the trauma doesn't have anything to with it."

Vietnam War Vets Called Upon Again

A collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Boston University and Harvard University evaluated 103 sets of identical male twins.

One in each pair had been exposed to trauma during Vietnam War combat. The other twin had not.

Fifty of the men exposed to trauma during combat were afflicted with PTSD. Those same men also experienced significantly more mental health problems than other war-fighters in the study who didn't suffer PTSD and participants who hadn't fought in Vietnam at all.

The Major Finding

The implication is that a genetic vulnerability doesn't trigger PTSD. Rather, the trauma itself is sufficient to cause the condition.

"If you assume that the identical twin is a representation of what the veteran would have been like had he not been exposed to combat, with the same genes and same family upbringing," Pitman said, "then the conclusion is that psychiatric trauma causes substantial psychiatric symptoms in a portion of the population."

What It Means

The finding will no doubt help researchers refine their approach to diagnosis and treatment. But it doesn't offer much solace for the 8 million Americans suffering from PTSD, nor the estimated two-thirds of recent veterans who are also afflicted.

Especially because PTSD appears to trigger additional illnesses. A study on thousands of veterans with post-traumatic stress concluded that they were more susceptible to conditions like chronic pain and headaches, though the precise link has yet to be established.

Do Genes Hold the Keys?

And as the Pentagon struggles to find better ways to manage surging rates of PTSD, they might now be reconsidering one area of focus: genetic tests.

An ongoing initiative by the Marine Corps, Veterans Affairs and Navy Medicine is testing thousands of Marines to find underlying "triggers" -- genes, biomarkers or personality traits -- that might predispose them to PTSD.

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