The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs will jointly convene the National Behavioral Health Conference and Policy Academy on Returning Veterans and their Families on August 11-13, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda Hotel in Bethesda, MD.

This special event will help Federal, State and local partners improve and enhance mental health and substance abuse services for returning veterans and their families and to facilitate nationwide sharing of information on mental health care delivery systems. Attendees will be provided evidence-based information to assist veterans and their families in building resiliency and preventing and /or treating complex conditions, including mental disorders (for example Post-Traumatic Stress), as well as substance use disorders, suicide, homelessness, domestic violence, traumatic brain injury, and co-occurring disorders.

San Francisco physicist Norbert Schuff captured the attention of colleagues at a recent San Francisco area conference of leading neurologists. He presented them with colorful brain images of U.S. soldiers who had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan and were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Schuff explained that the yellow areas of the images showed where the hippocampus, the area of the brain which is a big factor in memory and emotions, had atrophied. The red swatches on the images show hyperfusion-increased blood flow in the prefrontal cortex, which is the area that controls conflict resolution and decision making. Compared to the brain of a soldier without the affliction, the PTSD brain had lost 5 to 10 percent of its gray matter volume, which indicates even more neuron damage