UT psychology professors have discovered a way of predicting whether or not a soldier will develop post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

Michael Telch and Robert Josephs, professors of psychology, conducted a study on 120 soldiers, prior to deployment, at Fort Hood over 16 months and discovered that two hormones — testosterone and cortisol— can serve as predictors for a soldier’s possibility of developing PTSD.

“What seemed to put soldiers at risk for developing PTSD were those soldiers with the combination of blunted testosterone and blunted cortisol through the stress test prior to deployment, serving to increase the soldier’s vulnerability when subject to war-zone stressors,” Telch said. 

Telch said he and his team have been studying PTSD since 2007, but only began studying soldiers in conjunction with PTSD in the past 16 months. He added that throughout multiple studies, the team collected brain scans, held clinical interviews and analyzed genes. When studying the soldiers, the team performed carbon dioxide, or CO2, stress tests and then measured the soldier’s hormone levels. 

Josephs said CO2 stress tests are widely used to show how an individual’s body reacts to a lack of oxygen. He said these tests work by replacing a person’s oxygen intake with CO2, which the body interprets as
a threat. 

“The purpose of this project was to try to understand amongst healthy soldiers, who have not been deployed yet, what might their risk factors be for later developing PTSD or other emotional problems while they’re in the war zone,” Telch said. 

Josephs said that when subjected to the CO2 stress test, soldiers’ hormone levels changed. He said the hypothalamus, which is responsible for our ‘fight-or-flight’ response, secretes cortisol and testosterone in response to environmental stress. Telch said the soldier’s hormone levels indicated how well the soldier’s brains would respond to stressful events. 

The study found the soldiers that experienced an increase in cortisol and testosterone levels were less likely to develop PTSD and the soldiers who exhibited no change in their hormone levels were more likely to get PTSD.

The team plans to use this information to look into potential preventative strategies to reduce individuals’ risk for PTSD. Telch said the team could potentially help train soldiers for environmental stressors similar to those on the battlefield by exposing them to CO2 tests. 

”Testosterone might play a role in decreasing the risk for PTSD and other stress related diseases such as general anxiety, phobias and depression,” Josephs said. “The next move here is to possibly look at external delivery of testosterone to protect soldiers and other high-stress individuals.”