Alternative therapies in health and medicine
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Altern Ther Health Med · Jul 2010
Comparative StudyCardiac coherence and posttraumatic stress disorder in combat veterans.
The need for treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among combat veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq is a growing concern. PTSD has been associated with reduced cardiac coherence (an indicator of heart rate variability [HRV]) and deficits in early stage information processing (attention and immediate memory) in different studies. However, the co-occurrence of reduced coherence and cognition in combat veterans with PTSD has not been studied before. ⋯ Cardiac coherence is an index of strength of control of parasympathetic cardiac deceleration in an individual that has cardinal importance for the individual's attention and affect regulation.