DALLAS — When you see a piece of trash in the road, you probably don't think twice.
But for many service members returning from combat, that litter can look like an improvised explosive device — an IED.
It's a gut reaction, triggering memories that are often part of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
"I went from Iraq to Dallas," said Joseph Pedersen. And just like that, Joseph Pedersen's world changed.
It all happened more quickly than he was prepared for.
"You name it, it was different — how you ate; woke up; what you did in your free time; how you rested; who you associated with," he said.
Pedersen suffers from PTSD. Shortly after starting our interview, we chose to stop after he began having a hard time talking about it.
"When you come back, you deserve... you more than earned... to be taken care of," said Dr. John Hart at the Center for Brain Health. And it's with that passion that he approaches a cutting-edge magnet therapy for soldiers.
"Unfortunately, the cells in the brain are not working right," he explained.
The Department of Defense just granted $3 million for Dr. Hart to help soldiers like Pedersen, because with PTSD, there is damage to the brain.
"We're trying to train the brain to go back to its normal pre-trauma state," Dr. Hart explained.
It just takes one "war trigger" to set a returning solider back.
"They were in a Humvee and the only thing on the dashboard was a Coca-Cola can," Dr. Hart said. "The Humvee blew from an IED ... and so the last thing this guy remembered was this soda can."
Now, back at home, an ordinary aluminum can triggers vivid — and negative — thoughts.
"That Coke can is a whole bunch of parts of a memory put together," Dr. Hart said as he pointed to a replica of a brain. "The smell is right here' the touch area is right here; the visual here."
But he says once you add fear, a new circuit gets involved, making memories more vivid.
So for 12 sessions, 40 minutes at a time, soliders will sit down under this high-powered magnet often used to treat depression.
While the FDA has not approved this device for this specific use, the agency has cleared it for research.
And that's what this is — a three-year trial.
The magnet alternates north and south poles over the part of the brain that Dr. Hart says links the memories to fear. The hope is for the magnet to "retrain" the brain while undergoing therapy.
"We combine it with the opportunity to do it when they're not as frightened, hoping that this re-wiring or re-circuiting will be more successful long-term," Dr. Hart said.
The researchers measure brain activity to determine if the therapy is working.
"I don't have nightmares," Joseph Pedersen said. "I have moments where I will think back, and it's hard."
So hard, he shuts down. But with regular visits to Dr. Hart's lab, the hope is that he and hundreds of others will work through the memories.
The goal is for day-to-day items become just an average part of life at home.
The Center for Brain Health is looking for 150 soldiers with PTSD to take part in the three-year study.
E-mail sslater@wfaa.com
