Israeli scientists are working on a new pre-battlefield treatment which could prevent soldiers from later developing Post Traumatic Anxiety Disorder (PTSD), local media reported on Thursday.
According to Tel Aviv University's Talma Hendler and officials at the Functional Brain Center at the city's Ichilov Hospital, the "neurofeedback" method is aimed at teaching the subjects how to gradually change their brain's reaction to a traumatic experience.
The goal is to develop a method that would help individuals control physiological responses that stem from certain parts of their brain believed to be affected by trauma, the Ha'aretz daily reported Thursday.
The treatment would be applied in advance in order to reduce the risk of developing PTSD.
The research is being conducted on several dozen healthy subjects, using software which enables researchers to give their subjects feedback in real time on how their brain responds to assorted aural stimulation, and at different intensities.
The research is being carried in conjunction with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Medical Corps and is funded by the United States Department of Defense. Israeli soldiers are expected to take part in trials of the method at a later stage.
A 2009 study found that IDF behavioral evaluations were unable to predict which recruits would suffer from PTSD.
And so, "this new method is being developed to serve as a kind of inoculation to prevent battlefield PTSD, in advance to the time of the incident, as well as immediately after," Hendler told Ha' aretz.
"Our goal is to make intensive rehabilitative treatment possible, immediately following exposure to the difficult event and prevent the PTSD from setting in."
Hendler holds high hopes for the success of the vaccination.
"This new tool will make it possible to be conscious of brain activity in areas that we have identified as increasing the risk of trauma. Our hope is that training the brain in certain area and ways will improve the brain's resilience," he said.
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