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Pain Stress and Organic Brain Damage: A Variant of the Dynamics of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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Objective. To study the role of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in combat veterans. Materials and methods. A total of 87 combat veterans were studied. The duration of the follow-up period was 15–18 years. Mental disorders were diagnosed in terms of ICD-10 criteria. Diagnoses were used to formulate two groups of patients: those with PTSD (study group) and those with organic brain damage with partial symptoms of PTSD (reference group). Along with psychopathological studies, a set of scales and questionnaires was used, including those adapted for investigating the sequelae of combat trauma. Results and conclusions. Clinical signs in the groups of patients in the posttraumatic period provided evidence of the similarity and uniformity of posttraumatic disorders in both groups. The pathogenetic role of the intensity of TBI then became clearer – depending on severity, this led to formation of organic brain damage or had only a pathoplastic role, producing some of the characteristics of the clinical picture of PTSD. The more severe the trauma, the greater the probability of transformation of PTSD into organic brain damage. It is emphasized that the treatment of poststress disorders is a continuous, long-term, complex, and staged process, which includes medication, psychotherapy, and psychosocial interventions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. “Stress” Department of Mental Health Rehabilitation, “Artmed” Medical Rehabilitation Center, Erevan, Armenia

    S. G. Sukiasyan & M. Ya. Tadevosyan

  2. Armenian Medical Institute, Erevan, Armenia

    S. G. Sukiasyan & M. Ya. Tadevosyan

  3. Erevan State Medical University, Erevan, Armenia

    S. G. Sukiasyan & M. Ya. Tadevosyan

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  1. S. G. Sukiasyan
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  2. M. Ya. Tadevosyan
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Correspondence to S. G. Sukiasyan.

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Translated from Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii imeni S. S. Korsakova, Vol. 120, No. 9, Iss. 1, pp. 19–27, September, 2020.

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Sukiasyan, S.G., Tadevosyan, M.Y. Pain Stress and Organic Brain Damage: A Variant of the Dynamics of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Neurosci Behav Physi 51, 600–608 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01112-3

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