Can We Spot Soldiers at Risk for PTSD?

Telltale differences in the brain and immune system before deployment may predict which soldiers are most likely to succumb later on

By Moises Velasquez-Manoff

The bomb that shattered Travis Adams's peace of mind never actually exploded. Its timer went off, but the bomb malfunctioned. Still, the 25-year-old U.S. marine remained haunted by the memory of an explosive device diabolically concealed beneath a tempting array of cookies and candies. Whoever had set it that day in Iraq must have planned to blow up children. “People are evil if they're willing to do that,” he recalls thinking.



Adams had his share of close calls during his nine years of active duty, including a mortar that landed 50 yards from his bed one night. But he could not shake off his horror of the candy bomber, which soon metastasized into a broader distrust of his superiors and even himself. By the time Adams returned home to San Diego four years later in 2012, he was drinking heavily, irritable and prone to fits of anger. He spent most of his time alone, playing video games. People told him he had changed. He ignored them. It was not until later that same year, when his older brother, also a former marine, pressed him to get help that he visited the local Department of Veterans Affairs center. There he received a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).