PTSD Awareness Update
20-year longitudinal data study after 9/11
PTSD "Awareness" Update:
We're coming to the end of another "PTSD AWARENESS" month. The first official PTSD Awareness Month in the United States was designated in June 2014. This expanded upon the earlier recognition of PTSD Awareness Day, which was first observed on June 27, 2010, in honor of Staff Sergeant Joe Biel, a North Dakota National Guard member who died by suicide after struggling with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) following two tours in Iraq. The move to dedicate the entire month of June was intended to give more time and visibility to education, advocacy, and support for those affected by post-traumatic stress disorder—both veterans and civilians alike. [NOTE: the vast majority of combat Veterans diagnosed with "only PTSD" suffer from co-ocurring and undiagnosed Traumatic Brain Injury.]
15 years later, we still have an epidemic of suicides in service members: now over 153,000 since 9/11. Cases of PTSD are on the rise, owing in part to the COVID pandemic and the effects of long-haul COVID.
There’s growing evidence of a strong link between Long COVID and PTSD, both in terms of biological impact and psychological burden. A 2023 study from New York Medical College found that 29% of Long COVID patients met the criteria for PTSD, even among those who had only mild or moderate initial illness.
A 3.5-year longitudinal study published in PLOS One (2025) showed that patients with persistent Long COVID had significantly higher rates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms compared to those who recovered fully. While some symptoms improved over time, PTSD remained elevated in a subset of patients.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has acknowledged that Long COVID can have “devastating effects on mental health,” including PTSD, due to factors like social isolation, financial stress, and chronic physical symptoms. Those include:
Biological stressors: Ongoing inflammation, autonomic dysfunction, and neurological changes may contribute to trauma-like symptoms.
Psychological trauma: The experience of severe illness, hospitalization, or prolonged uncertainty can be traumatic—especially for those who felt abandoned, dismissed, or isolated.
Overlap of symptoms: Fatigue, brain fog, sleep disturbances, and emotional dysregulation are common to both Long COVID and PTSD, making diagnosis and treatment more complex.
PTSD was officially recognized as a distinct mental health diagnosis in 1980, when it was added to the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) by the American Psychiatric Association. Before that, trauma-related symptoms were described under various names across history, including: “Shell shock” (World War I); “Combat fatigue” or “battle fatigue” (World War II); “Post-Vietnam Syndrome”; and now commonly referred to as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). [NOTE: Hundreds of thousands of Veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD since 9/11. Over 877,450 Veterans suffer from TBI, almost always accompanied by PTSD. And millions of Americans suffer from diagnosed and undiagnosed PTSD.]
Stony Brook University has reported data from a 20-year study on over 12,800 World Trade Center casualties suffering from PTSD. The study investigates PTSD symptom trajectories in WTC responders. They state: "Our findings highlight the enduring impact of PTSD among World Trade Center responders, with substantial variability in individual trajectories. Despite overall modest declines, a subset remained highly symptomatic, underscoring the need for continued treatment."
A growing list of natural and produced chemicals are being evaluated, informally and scientifically, in a quest to deal with PTSD and depression. Psilocybin, Ayahuasca, Ibogaine, Mescaline, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, Salvinorin A, Ketamine, MDMA, LSD, Cannabis (THC/CBD), Kambo, Sassafras (Safrole → MDMA), Sananga, Syrian Rue. The list grows, as do the funds available to research their effectiveness. Texas has just appropriated $50M for ibogaine clinical research infrastructure. Johns Hopkins in Maryland is devoting millions to psilocybin and other psychedelics research. Numerous other states have started or are contemplating legislation to study these substances to alleviate symptoms suffered by millions afflicted with long-Covid, PTSD/TBI/Concussion symptoms.
None of the research to date has shown Mechanisms of Action in these mostly-illegal substances that demonstrates brain wound healing. There is no question that "mind altering" substances can have profound and even spiritual effects on the health and wellbeing of patients, but the world of science awaits evidence that the physiology and biology and chemistry of the afflicted is being healed, in addition to altering states of mind and even souls. Without proper diagnoses on the front end of treatment, is will be difficult to properly adjudicate how "healed" the patients are over time.
An A.I.-assisted search found that, as of 2023, there were approximately 12,012 mental health treatment facilities in the United States that provided services for conditions like depression and PTSD. A 2022 VA study found a "staggering" cost for PTSD treatments: U.S. civilian and military populations in 2018 combined for more than $230 billion in annual costs.
Lost in all the thousands of clinics, foundations, hospitals and studies are peer-reviewed clinical trials showing the safty and efficacy of using Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) to treat and help heal PTSD. Israeli research demonstrated that HBOT can improve PTSD symptoms of veterans with combat-associated PTSD. The clinical improvement in behavioral and psychological and emotional and functional capabilities was accompanied by enhanced functional brain connectivity demonstrated by brain imaging.
A recent clinical trial out of Utah and a systematic review and dosage analysis out of Louisiana attest, once again, that "HBOT presents a novel therapeutic approach for PTSD, that targets the biological consequences of traumatic events; by inducing a cascade of salutary physiological alterations that culminate in regenerative neuroplasticity, it offers clinical relief to many who had been suffering from long-term, persistent symptoms of PTSD."
Real "PTSD Awareness" has to do more than hope "thoughts and prayers" and more of the same standard of care can alleviate the pain, suffering, and burden of PTSD. Awareness should lead to ACTION that understands what the new science of integrative and alternative medicine is already providing to those lucky few who discover legal and immediate healing help from HBOT. TreatNOW.
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The TreatNOW Mission is ending service member suicides. Along the way, we have learned that we can end suicidal ideation, help end symptoms of PTSD, get patients off most of their drugs, and heal brain wounds to end the effects of Concussion, BLAST injury, mild TBI Persistent Post Concussive Syndrome, and polytrauma from AHI, Burn Pits, and COVID. No Veteran or civilian has ever been killed while undergoing HBOT treatment for TBI/PTSD. For a video Summary, see: https://www.youtube.com/@treatnowdotorg/videos