A Stanford Psychiatrist’s New Book on PTSD
Lane appreciatively received The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science as a gift of the author, Stanford psychiatrist Shaili Jain, MD. See the conversation about her new book posted on Stanford Report.
“Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a challenging condition with a collection of possible symptomsnightmares, relentless harmful emotions (anger, fear, guilt), hypervigilance, flashbacks, and an amplified startle response. PTSD patients are at greater risk of suicide.
About 80-percent of the afflicted also suffer from other psychiatric problems (depression, alcoholism, drug abuse). Some causes of PTSD are rape, combat exposure, child abuse, accidents, and fire.
Psychiatrist Jain (the daughter of immigrants from India with a family history of trauma) incorporates anecdotes of her patients to help explain the etiologies, diagnoses, and treatments of PTSD.
A sampling includes a woman who is sexually assaulted as a teenager and later endures her baby’s SIDS death, a marine who served in Iraq and witnessed a street bombing that maimed or killed many civilians, and an individual badly injured in a car accident.
The best treatment remains talk therapy (cognitive behavioral therapy), and medication (chiefly SSRI antidepressants) can be beneficial. Jain asserts that the importance of accessible treatment and early intervention for PTSD cannot be overstated, while also emphasizing the genuine healing value of empathy and simply listening.”
— From publisher’s summary
