Halifax conference highlights research on PTSD and brain injury impacts for the sake of Canadian veterans

Hundreds of researchers gathered in Halifax this week for the Canadian Institute for Military Veteran Health Research annual forum, which brings together military, veteran and family well-being researchers.

Carrie Esopenko is a Canadian researcher conducting chronic brain injury research at the University of Utah. As the first day’s keynote speaker, she opened the conference with a conversation around the intersection of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and brain injuries.

Esopenko told The Chronicle Herald the two have overlapping symptoms, making it difficult to treat either.

“What makes it so difficult is that PTSD can make some of those symptoms worse after brain injury, and brain injury makes it so it’s harder to treat the PTSD symptoms, and so then you put them together, and we have people that are really struggling with kind of both of it to get this comorbid, co-occurring, very complex issue.”

Esopenko has been researching traumatic brain injury treatment at the University of Utah since 2018. Her study focuses on people who have experienced repeated brain injuries, such as retired athletes, first responders, violence survivors and veterans.

The study involves red light therapy called photobiomodulation and has found the treatment reduces symptoms of brain injury and improves cognitive function.

Esopenko said much more research is needed to determine exactly why symptoms improve, but she is aiming to continue her research, possibly in a new study that examines veterans and first responders with traumatic brain injuries and symptoms of PTSD.

“We’ve been focused a lot on the brain injury side, and we are now going down the path of PTSD,” said Esopenko.

“The near infrared light seems to calm people and seems to make you be able to be more at peace, which then we think allows people to walk through those traumatizing symptoms or experiences that they’re having, and so that’s what we want to start looking at: why those symptoms are going down.”

But Esopenko said this research can’t happen alone.

“We all need to come together to do this, and this needs to be people that are experts in the PTSD side, people that are experts in the brain injury side, people that are experts in both, and then specifically people who are experts in the military experience, and within that we need people with lived experience at the table.”

Over 900 people attended the three-day conference, including representatives from 11 countries.

Nicholas Held, scientific director for the Canadian Institute for Military Veteran Health Research, said the forum has grown significantly since Halifax last hosted in 2022, when there were 550 attendees.

“The amount of turnout we have is remarkable,” said Held. “A lot of work is going on in the space.”

The conference covers a wide variety of research topics within the military and veteran health-care space, including injury prevention for active members, veteran mental health, support for family members and women’s health and well-being.

The forum took place days after four soldiers died and 39 others were injured in a fire during a training drill at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta.

“Our thoughts will go out with all of those impacted by what happened at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright,” said Held. “It was a tragic event, and I think it underscores the importance of this event.”

Held said the forum aims to not only bring together researchers but to create real changes in the safety and health of active service members and veterans. He said the key to improving the physical and mental well-being of veterans and military personnel is wholistic care, which looks at every aspect of service and transitioning to veteran life.

“It’s not that we can have one study that’s going to change everything. We need to have these groups coming together, having these conversations to ensure that we’re able to adapt to all the needs of our community,” said Held.

Esopenko said the forum helps to bring together experts of different specialties.

“You don’t just have people that are only interested in helping people with PTSD. You don’t just have people that are only interested in musculoskeletal injuries,” said Esopenko.

“You have everybody here in the same room, having conversations about the whole body and the whole health of the individual.”