What’s New

Tuesday, April 22, 2025, 9:00 - 4:15pm ET

Brain, Behavior, & Mind is a series of global forums featuring distinguished scientists, clinicians, and leaders whose work spans neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, and public health. Each event explores new insights in our understanding of health and illnes

The conference is sponsored by the CSTS, in collaboration with USU’s Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Program, Department of Family Medicine, Center for Deployment Psychology, and Brain and Behavior Hub.

Registration now open for the Brain, Behavior, & Mind 2025 Spring Conference on April 22, 2025. This event will feature presentations, and live, moderated panels with the featured speakers, as well as a poster session. Continuing Education is available for physicians, psychologists, and social workers. (see website for details).

This document is an ongoing continuous summary of Army STARRS and STARRS-LS publications. STARRS/STARRS LS (2009 - present) is the largest and most comprehensive research project of mental health among U.S. Army Soldiers ever conducted. The project was designed to examine a broad range of risk and resilience (protective) factors across a complex set of outcomes including suicidal behaviors and associated mental health issues. Army STARRS scientists created a series of large and extensive databases with the potential to achieve groundbreaking results. These databases allow scientists to investigate a diverse combination of factors from demographic, psychological, biological, neurological, behavioral, and social domains with the goal of generating actionable findings for the Army. The project was designed using an adaptive approach which means it evolved as new information became available over the course of the project. The research team shared preliminary findings, as they became available, with senior Army leadership so the Army could apply them to its ongoing health promotion, risk reduction, and suicide prevention efforts. The work is continuing under the STARRS Longitudinal Study (STARRS-LS) which runs from 2015 to 2025.

Many parents struggle with the instinct to protect their children from reality, fearing that discussing death will be distressing or cause harm.

Please click HERE for fact sheet

Changes in the workplace such as restructuring, downsizing, or shifts in organizational priorities can create uncertainty and stress, often making it difficult for individuals to effectively manage daily responsibilities.

Please click HERE for fact sheet

Catastrophic disasters, such as the aircraft collsion on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., cause extreme disruption and can be distressful for individuals, families, and communities. Actions that promote the five essential elements of Psychological First Aid (safety, calming, connectedness, efficacy, and hope) can reduce individual distress and foster community sustainment through this event, as well as other disasters.  Members of the community can help reduce adversity and chronic stressors by helping friends and neighbors impacted by this event. Please click HERE for easy-to-use education fact sheets with recommended actions to protect the mental health and well-being of individuals and communities impacted by the plane crash.

Although there have been many studies examining the traumatic effects of 9/11, there has been limited focus on the impact of bereavement on those affected by the tragedy. Given the trauma that all 9/11 WTC Survivors faced, it is likely that those who were bereaved on 9/11 or suffered subsequent deaths face additional challenges. The goal of this study is to examine the combined effects of bereavement and trauma on the health-related quality of life among 9/11 World Trade Center (WTC) Health Registry Survivor Enrollees. Please click HERE for more information

Catastrophic natural disasters, such as the Southern California wildfires cause extreme disruption and can be distressful for individuals, families and communities. For resources to help please click HERE

Please view the Brain, Behavior, and Mind 2024 Fall Lecture HERE. 

Official event transcript

Acts of mass violence, such as the shootings at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin cause extreme disruption within communities. Acts of violence against children are particularly distressing, and their occurrence at locations often thought of as safe havens, such as schools, further undermine feelings of safety within a community. Please click HERE for brief, action-oriented fact sheets and additional information to help individuals, communities, and organizations in the aftermath of the shootings at Abundant Life Christian School.

Catastrophic natural disasters, such as Hurricane Helene, cause extreme disruption and can be stressful for individuals, families, and communities. Click HERE for webpage with action-oriented fact sheets and additional information to help individuals, communities, and organizations in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Climate-related disasters, such as hurricanes, wildfires, and others, are profoundly disruptive events with long-term effects on psychological and behavioral health. CSTS' Deputy Director, Dr. Joshua Morganstein, authored the most contemporary chapter on "Climate-Related Disasters: Impact, Risk, and Interventions", which is part of the recently released textbook Climate Change and Mental Health Equity. This chapter summarizes the science regarding mental health consequences of climate-related disasters, identifies risk and protective factors, and highlights actionable recommendations for interventions to support community members, responders, and leaders.

Immediately available for viewing is the 2024 CSTS Annual Report. In this comprehensive report, you can read summaries of the Center's work to enhance psychological health, speed the recovery from, and help prevent the negative consequences of trauma on individuals, families, communities, and the nation. 

Coming soon! – The Center's annual Amygdala, Stress, and PTSD Conference will be renamed to better reflect a broad focus on understanding brain, behavior, and mind in the context of stress and resilience, illness and health. Since its inception, the conference has been ambitious in its breadth and diversity, bringing together scientists and clinicians whose work spans from basic, clinical, and community research to public health and healthcare. This exciting environment of mutual curiosity and desire to understand allows us all to be teachers and learners, sharing and acquiring new knowledge.

For previous conferences please go HERE

Now available: A CSTS study indicates that among 1,363 National Guard service members who activated in response to COVID-19 in early 2020, the four work tasks associated with the highest levels of stress were: 1) Patient transportation; 2) Working with the dead; 3) Working with families of COVID-19 patients; and 4) Working with residents in high-risk facilities. These rankings were reflected in work task scaled scores that indicate each task's level of high stress, with scores ranging from 32.8 to 100. These findings reflect the stress inherent in disaster-related work tasks associated with personal involvement with individuals who are sick, dying, or deceased and highlight the importance of supporting personnel involved in these work tasks.

Click HERE for abstract

Dr. Ursano gave a talk in April 2024 as part of the Nuvance Health Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds. The presentation is titled "Disaster Psychiatry: From Individual to Community" and touches on different types of disasters including natural disasters, COVID-19, and war in the Ukraine.

On March 12, PSY Chair COL Vincent Capaldi and Vice Chair for Research Dr. Curt West traveled to Warsaw, Poland to present at the Warfighter Brain Health Symposium. Presenters, in addition to COL Capaldi and Dr. West, include CDP Director Dr. William Brim and School of Medicine faculty members Lt Col Thomas Bayuk, Maj Eric Meyer, Dr. Warren Dorlac, and Dr. John Holcomb. This was the second such effort in recent weeks. In mid-February, the Center for Deployment Psychology  (CDP) and Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) attended the Ukraine Research Needs and Capabilities Symposium (Warsaw, Poland), which welcomed over 40 U.S. and Ukrainian combat casualty care experts to discuss ethical considerations and operational and regulatory controls related to medical research in Ukraine. During the Warsaw trip, Dr. Brim and Psychiatry Professor and CSTS Associate Director Dr. David Benedek presented on current and future mental health training and research in Ukraine. 

Dr. Stephen Cozza, Associate Director for the Child and Family Program for CSTS, Professor for Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at USU, was among the many experts at USU who helped lead the development of a new book, Grief and Prolonged Grief Disorder, to help clinicians better understand Prolonged Grief Disorder, which is much longer-lasting and all-consuming compared to typical bereavement. 

Click HERE for more information.

Exposure to acts of terrorism and war causes a wide range of harmful mental health effects. Those working with people directly impacted by the Israel-Hamas war or affected communities around the world can protect mental health by using the following evidence-based actions and other resources HERE