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>> In CNRM, and in research in
general, there are two types

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of trials that involve
human beings.

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One is what we call a
Natural History study,

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in which we take a group of
individuals like individuals

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with PTSD or like individuals
with TBI, and we follow them

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over a long period of time.

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And so, very much what Natural
History studies allow us

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to do is generate hypotheses
around what the enemy is.

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The other type of trial that we
do here is something called a

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Treatment Trial; or
an Experimental Trial.

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And that's an experiment
where we're actually trying

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to test whether one
intervention works better

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or worse than another.

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So, for instance, a classic
experimental trial would be a

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drug trial in which you
do a placebo control trial

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where you give somebody
a pill every day,

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and that individual may
or may not know whether

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or not that's the experimental
pill or a sugar pill.

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So, those are the
two types of trials

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and we do both of them here.

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>> The Clinical Trials
Unit has been created

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to develop novel treatments
for the most important symptoms

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of traumatic brain injury such
as sleep disorders, headache,

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chronic pain, depression,
anxiety.

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Clinical trials are
very important

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because they provide
a rigorous environment

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in which the research
question can be asked

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in a scientific way.

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By doing clinical trials, I
can hopefully make a difference

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in the lives of many
more patients

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because traumatic brain
injury is very prevalent

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and is a condition that
affects mostly young people.

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And we want to give them an
active life as much as possible.

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>> We've been using virtual
reality, virtual Iraq

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and virtual Afghanistan
since about 2007.

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We were the first to
show that the function

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of the brain significantly
improves with that treatment.

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So, they say a little bit
about what happened to them,

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and then the therapist
creates some of that

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in the virtual environment.

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It's more attractive to service
members, because frankly,

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you know, a lot of our
younger soldiers they're used

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to playing video games.

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You know, being immersed in
this kind of a world, and so,

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it's appealing to them.

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You know, they might say, "Well,
yeah, talk therapy I don't know,

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I don't really want to talk
to somebody about this,

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I don't want to take
another medicine.

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But, virtual reality, wow,
that sounds kind of cool.

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Sure, I'll come in."

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So, it gets their
foot in the door.

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>> One of the things we do here
is an interesting test called

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Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation.

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And we like to do this
over the part of the brain

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that controls the muscles on
the other side of the body,

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an area called the motor cortex,

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And that way when we stimulate,

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we can look at how big
the muscle twitch is.

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And that tells us a lot about
the sensitivity of the brain

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and how it changes under
various conditions.

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>> When patients have a
head injury or other types

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of neurological disorders,

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it frequently affects their
thinking, their memory,

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their speed -- the speed at
which they process information,

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their ability to
shift their attention.

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And what clinical
neuropsychologists do are

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measure out those cognitive
abilities such as memory,

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attention, things like that.

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After a patient has an injury,
they may or may not know

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if they're functioning
at that --

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at the level they were before.

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One of the things that we do
is we also estimate what their

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functioning was prior
to the injury.

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So, by being able to determine,
sort of, where they were before,

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and where they are now, we can
make a more objective assessment

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of where they're
having problems,

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and what those problems may be.

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>> Please visit our
website at CNRMstudies.org.

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Subscribe to our Facebook
page, Twitter feed,

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Youtube channel, and Instagram.

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That's where you'll have access
to TBI and PTS resources.

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Please give us a call, we
would love to hear from you.

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Together, we can
make a difference.

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