Study: Fast morphine treatment may prevent PTSD

[RocketMan]

I would imagine that having your buddy's insides splattered all over you would be pretty traumatic, even if not injured yourself 

Do they make a drug for that kind of pain ?   

No.  They don't.

The article doesn't say that and I don't know that there is a way to lessen the impact of what you stated.

I wonder if quickly sending someone who has just experienced something traumatic of that nature off to la-la land with a psychoactive might be beneficial?  I doubt it would be feasible in a combat environment, though, even back in the rear.
Just some amateur guess work on my part.

[MillCreek]

A great deal of work was done back in the 50's and 60's using LSD therapeutically for alcoholism, depression, psychosis and a host of other issues.  There are a very few current studies looking at psychedelics for anxiety disorders.  Psychedelics are essentially illegal in the USA outside of the research environment. 

[Cromlech]

A great deal of work was done back in the 50's and 60's using LSD therapeutically for alcoholism, depression, psychosis and a host of other issues. 

Indeed. 
LSD Testing (British Troops)

[RocketMan]

Hmmm...maybe psychoactive was the wrong term.  I really meant something that would take a person into state of not being concerned about their immediate surroundings or situation, not necessarily a psychedelic or hallucinogen.
I don't have a lot of knowledge on this subject.

[Marnoot]

Researchers have started looking into using Ecstasy for PTSD treatment:

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/nov/20-treating-agony-with-ecstasy

[MillCreek]

^^^^^ How very interesting indeed.  It would be a major clinical breakthrough if we can develop an effective means of treating PTSD and other psychological traumas. 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Significant life events, good bad or otherwise, are bound to have lasting influences on people.  I think I'd be more concerned about someone who experienced a traumatic event and wasn't affected by it than I would be over a person who did become affected.  Traumatic events are traumatic, and that's just life.

Seems rather obvious that if you drug someone into a state of chemical happiness, they aren't going to exhibit any of their former fear or anxiety.  But at some point you have to wonder if drugging away the person's normal and natural responses doesn't amount to drugging away some of the person.  Is it  worth it?

(Yeah, it probably is worth it.  I don't want soldiers to have to suffer needlessly for the rest of their lives.  But at some point don't you have to accept that going to war is a life experience like any other, one that will have an influence on the people involved?)

[Balog]

Believe me, not having ptsd is not the same as not being affected. The fact that I rarely only get 2 hours of sleep a night for weeks on end because I'm dreaming about Iraq doesn't mean it didn't change me.

[280plus]

The fact that it was 20 years before I stopped having regular dreams about being out to sea says something to me about all this. There was very little trauma involved with my experiences so I can ony imagine how reliving any trauma regularly during twenty years worth of dreams might affect me. I imagine the less you can remember about any severe trauma the better off you will be.

I witnessed a pretty severe rollover accident once that ended in some young woman  underneath her car face up with her feet sticking out just like the witch in the "Wizard of Oz". That's exactly what the scene reminded me of. Even though I felt I was quite stoic at the moment and did what I had to do to help it was two weeks before the flashbacks stopped and even a year later when her lawyer showed me pics of the accident scene I was still overcome with emotion. PTSD ain't much fun. If immediate anesthesia lessens the effects, I'm all for it.