In terms of treatment, I know I've seen some research. For example, I believe Ruth Lanius has looked at some neurobiological differences in the brains of men and women in terms of how they experience PTSD. There's some evidence showing that men experience an increased level of arousal in different parts of their brain, whereas responses by women's brains are more dampened down. From my perspective, in terms of treating and targeting PTSD, it's very much an individual thing and not a one-size-fits-all thing for sure. Whether we're talking about gender differences or even just individual differences between different first responders who come into my office, whether they are firefighters or police or correctional officers or paramedics, I think you really have to look at the symptoms they're presenting with. If, for example, there is somebody presenting with fewer re-experiencing symptoms like nightmares, flashbacks, or intrusive memories and they're experiencing more avoidance and heightened irritability, then I would really be looking at focusing on that hierarchy for avoidance of situations and helping them through that as well as at anger management and social skills training techniques to really help to dampen the heightened irritability.
On March 22nd, 2016. See this statement in context.