Lots of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan see Barbara Rothbaum as a hero.
And so do many scientists around the world, and now, the Atlanta Braves.
The diminutive mother of two sons — a senior in high school and a senior in college — has never heard a shot fired in anger and never been to a combat zone, but she’s devoted more than two decades of her life to finding an effective treatment for men and women suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Soon, placards will be posted in thousands of doctors’ offices around the Southeast that will allow people to read four self-assessment questions about PTSD.
The displays are part of a campaign called BraveHeart: Welcome Back Veterans Southeast Initiative, which is being led by Rothbaum, who holds a doctorate in psychology and heads the Emory University School of Medicine’s Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program.
Emory has teamed up with the Atlanta Braves, whose manager Fredi Gonzalez, will record a public service announcement to be played on the big screen at Turner Field before games.
His image also will appear on a website, braveheartveterans.org, which will offer tips for vets to find help, says Braves community affairs director Ericka Newsome-Hill. The website will even include an interactive “avatar.”
PTSD is a major cause of suicide, and with up to 2.3 million vets in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina, Rothbaum says the program is badly needed.
For information, she says vets and their family members can send an email to care@braveheartveterans.org or phone 404-727-8964. A video about the program is available at http://bit.ly/braveheartsoutheast.
Rothbaum is a pioneer in the use of virtual reality exposure therapy to treat PTSD. VR machines allow people to sit in a chair wearing a helmet with a video screen and earphones, which is intended to make them feel as if they are back in a war zone. Many vets say they’ve been cured or helped by VR therapy.
Rothbaum says as many as 40 percent of people who’ve fought in Iraq or Afghanistan have or will get PTSD, higher than for Vietnam vets. One reason — 96 percent are surviving injuries.
A researcher of PTSD since 1986, her work has led to FDA approval of two antidepressant drugs to treat the condition and her staff has seen significant success with its VR treatments.
“She has a burning fire to help people with PTSD and also to prevent it,” says her boss, Dr. Mark Rapaport, chairman of the department of psychiatry.
Emory is involved in two studies, one involving virtual reality, with 125 people signed up so far. Some take a drug called D-Cycloserine, or DCS, which has been shown to cause an “extinction of fear” in animals. Others take a placebo or alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax.
In an $11 million Department of Defense project in which Rothbaum is involved with researchers at the University of Southern California and New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, DCS is being used with VR or another form of exposure therapy, in which subjects are asked to repeatedly retell their traumatic experience under the guidance of a clinician. About 300 people will receive either DCS or a placebo.
Rothbaum says 10 percent of the public, not only veterans, has PTSD.
“It’s very sad,” she says. “It haunts people. We want to give them their lives back.”
About the Author
