A new finding by the New England School of Medicine has some in Boston University’s Reserve Officer Training Corps breathing a sigh of relief.

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‘Any and all research done in order to help veterans and soldiers coming back from war zones is a great thing,’ said Major Will Lasse, an enrollment and scholarship officer at BU.

Lasse, who served in Iraq from 2005 to 2006, said PTSD is unfortunately common.
‘In my mind, every soldier comes back with a little bit of a case of it,’ he said.

Though he never received medical attention, Lasse said that his wife observed some symptoms of PTSD in him when he returned home, including short temper, difficulty coping with schedule alterations and higher stress when driving.

Lasse said changes in his personality were especially apparent in heightened frustration with his two small children, which he attributed to his leadership experiences in Iraq.

‘I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t take direction or listen or follow through with tasks that I had set for them,’ he said.

Dr. Michael Lyons, chair of the psychology department at BU and a Vietnam veteran, said PTSD, a disorder which usually follows a traumatic event of some kind, includes avoidance of situations reminiscent of the trauma, numbing of emotions, arousal symptoms and re-experiences.

‘PTSD happens when something bad happens,’ Lyons said. ‘Being wounded in combat is bad and the terrible pain that happens when you are wounded in combat is bad. If we can get rid of the terrible pain we can get rid of one of the terrible things that may be causing PTSD.’

But Lyons said morphine may be doing more than simply relieving pain; it could help individuals to process traumatic memories.

‘Traumatic memories are processed differently from regular episodic memories,’ he said.
He compared the process of absorbing episodic memories to eating a sandwich.

Traumatic memories, he said, are like swallowing the sandwich whole.

‘You don’t have a chance to process it, to digest it the way we normally do,’ he said. ‘So it has this sort of toxic effect in your brain.’

However, while morphine may be promising for preventing PTSD, it can be addictive and have other negative effects. Some ROTC cadets said they are hesitant about whether they would use it.

‘I would have to take into account the side effects and how it would affect my daily life while taking the drug,’ said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Chase Baker.

Baker, who may be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in the near future, said he realizes that he might develop PTSD, but has come to terms with the possibility.

‘I view PTSD as what it is,’ said Baker. ‘I know that being in a stressful environment and being surrounded by death and gunshot in a battle ground, something like that could develop, but it’s something that I guess I accept.’

College of Communication junior Dan Dillenback said his grandfather suffers from anxiety, insomnia, panic attacks and depression following traumatic experiences in the Vietnam War. But Dillenback said his choice to take morphine would depend on the situation he found himself in.

‘If I were injured in an ambush and I was still in the command of soldiers then I would never take a drug, especially not one like morphine that might effect my ability to lead,’ he said. ‘If I were injured and I was removed from my position of authority for medical reasons then I would consider it.’