Post-traumatic stress disorder treatment in war-torn Ukraine
A researcher from the Providence Veteran's Association recently made the trip to Ukraine to train doctors there on a non-medicinal treatment for PTSD.
It's called transcranial magnetic stimulation.
It's a type of non-medicine treatment Dr. Noah Philip, a psychiatrist and researcher at the VA, has been working on, and perfecting, for more than a dozen years.
"We do research specifically for veterans however the result of that not only help veterans specifically but it helps all Americans generally," said Lawrence Connell, Director of the Providence VA.
Not just in the US, but globally.
So how does it work?
"This is a treatment that uses rapidly changing magnetic fields to change electrical activity in the neurons of the brain," explained Philip. "It helps these nerves to work in a more normal and healthy fashion."
It works especially well on patients with depression and post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
"About two thirds of people who come into my office will leave better," said Philip.
"About half of those leave really life changingly better."
When doctors in Ukraine learned of his research and its success, they invited him there to train other doctors. They had recently been gifted two of the TMS devices.
Philip didn't hesitate!
"So you fly into Poland then you drive over land," said Philip of his trip to Lviv, Ukraine in November.
That car drive took seven hours and included multiple check points under a veil of darkness.
"The instant that you cross the border you really immediately know that you're in a war torn country," recalled Philip. "Many of the doctors that I was teaching they weren't psychiatrists. They might've been surgeons or radiologists or family practitioner providers and they've become psychiatrists because the mental health need is so great."
It usually takes six or more weeks, and condense it into less than a week.
"What we can do is we can concentrate now the stimulus in such a way that's safe but gets people better faster," said Philip.
He said the plan is to offer this treatment at the front line where it can really make a difference.
The Providence VA conducts $30 million worth of research each year.