Combat Stress in Afghanistan Could Alter Soldiers’ Long-term Neural Makeup

Some soldiers who serve in Afghanistan or other war-torn countries return home with visible injuries: concussions, broken bones or amputated limbs. Many others, though, suffer from injuries we can’t visibly see. The daily strain of being exposed to armed combat, enemy fire and unpredictable explosions can lead to a range of behavioral symptoms, including fatigue, slower reaction times and a difficulty in connecting to one’s immediate surroundings.

A new study of soldiers returning home from Afghanistan, published today online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hints at the underlying cause for these behavioral changes. Researchers from the Netherlands and elsewhere used neurological exams and MRI scanning techniques to examine 33 soldiers before and after a four-month deployment in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, and compared them to a control group of 26 soldiers who were never deployed.

The results were sobering—and indicate that a relatively short period of combat stress can alter an individual’s neurological circuitry for a long time.