Repetitive TMS to augment cognitive processing therapy in combat veterans of recent conflicts with PTSD: A randomized clinical trial.

Background: The objective was to test whether repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) just prior to Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) would significantly improve the clinical outcome compared to sham rTMS prior to CPT in veterans with PTSD.

Methods: Veterans 18-60 years of age with current combat-related PTSD symptoms were randomized, using a 1:1 ratio in a parallel design, to active (rTMS+CPT) versus sham (sham+CPT) rTMS just prior to weekly CPT for 12-15 sessions. Blinded raters evaluated veterans at baseline, after the 5th and 9th treatments, and at 1, 3, and 6 months post-treatment.

Factors Impacting Functional Status in Veterans of Recent Conflicts With PTSD.

Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) underwent a systematic evaluation to determine which factors were associated with the degree of functional status. Demographic information, self-report scales, and symptom ratings performed by trained evaluators were investigated in multiple regression models to determine their contribution to functional status. Ninety-six participants were included in the model assessing degree of functional status.

Learning disabilities do not go away: 20- to 25-year study of cognition, academic achievement, and affective illness.

This study was undertaken to establish how the current level of cognitive and academic functioning in adults might correlate with the previous testing performed at a small private school in Dallas, Texas, that serves students with learning disabilities. Each of the 40 participants had been evaluated as students 20 to 25 years previously using the standard cognitive and achievement tests accepted in practice during the 1970s. Additionally, the medical director of the school, a neurologist, had evaluated each student for neurologic and behavioral disorders.