Used for decades to treat chronic pain, stellate ganglion block, or SGB has only recently been tried for PTSD. Now the U.S. Army is spending $2 million to find out more.
PTSD treatment could be revolutionized once the Army finishes trial testing of a SGB shot.
Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and author Jaime Parent said after 10 years of studies of the effects...
"Why did this take so long?," said Parent. "The sense of urgency is still here."
PTSD Foundation of America's David Maulsby with Camp Hope said the shot might be the help for some.
"Numbing something doesn't help it go away," said Maulsby.
He said rather than a shot, they urge a longer treatment option that gets to the actual problem.
"We have to process that trauma. We have to face it head on and work through that, and not drug it or, in this treatment, is to numb, it, basically," said Maulsby.
He added long-term success cannot happen without confronting, then dealing with the issues and emotions head on.
However, he said he's for the SGB, shot--if it can bring a person from a hyper anxious state to a place to begin to talk through it--rather than numbing veterans and sending them on their way without therapy.
Parent added that PTSD effects the entire family, not just the veteran returning home.