Category Archives: Government/Military

VA’s MDMA Trial Offers New Hope, Particularly for the Brain Injured

On May 26, 2026, the VA announced a clinical trial to test MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans battling PTSD and alcohol use disorder. The study, which began enrollment quietly on May 18, is one of 19 psychedelic trials the VA is funding through $23 million in external grants, enrolling approximately 80 veterans at facilities in Providence, Rhode Island, and West Haven, Connecticut, with results expected in May 2030.

The trial will study the safety and effectiveness of MDMA-assisted therapy to address conditions that do not fully respond to standard treatments. For those living with traumatic brain injury, the treatment’s benefit may be significant. Research shows that patients with head injuries are more likely to develop PTSD than those without a TBI history. Studies confirm that veterans with probable TBI have 1.72 times greater odds of developing PTSD.

“This trial represents an important step in safely evaluating new approaches and innovations to treat Veterans with severe mental health conditions,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. For the hundreds of thousands of veterans carrying both a damaged brain and a traumatized mind, it may represent something even more profound: a second chance at healing.

Another Study Links TBI & PTSD to Cognitive Decline – But Not Through Brain Plaques

A study published May 30, 2026, in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease is reshaping how researchers understand cognitive decline in combat veterans. Using data from the Department of Defense’s Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, USC researchers examined how TBI and PTSD affect brain imaging markers and cognition in a U.S. veteran population.

Brain imaging results and cognitive test data assessing memory and executive function in veterans

The study found that greater PTSD symptom severity was linked to poorer performance across all three cognitive tests used, and higher TBI severity correlated with lower scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination. What is striking about these findings is that they did not show that TBI severity nor PTSD symptoms were associated with neuroimaging biomarkers of neurodegeneration or vascular damage.

This discovery suggests that cognitive impairment in veterans may not stem directly from the accumulation of Alzheimer’s pathologies or vascular injuries. This matters enormously for treatment. It suggests veterans’ cognitive struggles may require targeted interventions beyond standard dementia pathways – a finding directly relevant to legislative reauthorizing of funding for federal TBI surveillance and research programs.

VA Health Care Uses New Treatment Tech to Bring Silence

Lenire tinnitus therapy device with handheld control, headphones, and tongue stimulator

For many, a brain injury doesn’t end when the wound heals. One of its most persistent aftereffects of brain injury is tinnitus, a relentless ringing, buzzing, or hissing in the ears that no one else can hear. Scientifically. when the brain sustains trauma, the auditory pathways that process sound can become dysregulated, causing the nervous system to essentially generate phantom noise around the clock. Affecting up to 53% of people who sustain traumatic brain injury, tinnitus is not just annoying, it can fuel anxiety, disrupt sleep, and greatly erode quality of life.

Tinnitus is also the leading service-connected disability among veterans. Up to three-quarters of veterans with a brain injury, especially blast-induced brain injuries, will develop tinnitus. In response, a major new treatment is in development: “The Atlanta VA Health Care System marked a significant milestone in Veteran care on April 2, 2026, with the first use of the Lenire tinnitus treatment technology,” reported the Office of Veterans Affairs. FDA-cleared, the Lenire treatment is a bimodal neuromodulation device that stimulates both the tongue and the ears simultaneously to retrain the brain’s response to tinnitus. Rather than masking the phantom sound, it targets the neurological root of the problem.

Neuromod Devices, the medtech company behind the Lenire treatment, states their device is “Effective, Safe and Calming”. For veterans and others who have long suffered, this launch may mean real relief is finally within reach.

Tax Day Challenge for the Brain Injured

Tax documents, calculator, coffee mug labeled 'TAX SEASON', and April 2026 calendar showing Tax Day on the 15th.

Tax Day is stressful for nearly everyone, but the pressure can be particularly harmful for brain injury survivors. A 2024 study in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that 70% of adults with acquired brain injury said their injury affected their ability to handle financial tasks, and 58% felt stressed or anxious about finances. Stress is, of course, a known trigger for neurological symptoms.

According to statistics, prior to injury, 82% of TBI survivors were employed, meaning most were taxpayers. Two years post-injury, 60.4% of moderate-to-severe TBI survivors are unemployed, according to a one study available of PubMed. Many of those who remain employed still struggle cognitively with complex tasks. Tax filing is assuredly a complex task, regardless of brain injury statis.

For brain injury survivors who cannot manage the process alone, but cannot afford professional help, the Internal Revenue Service has many free resources to provide assistance (https://www.usa.gov/help-filing-taxes). “The VITA grant program is an IRS initiative designed to support free tax preparation service for the underserved through various partner organizations.” Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE), “focuses on questions about pensions and retirement-related issues.” Additionally, the IRS Free File provides guided software and fillable forms, available if your adjusted gross income is $84,000 or less. For military service members, MilTax offers free tax assistance.

Congress Has Been Flying Blind on Veteran Brain Injury Spending for Years

Shiny golden dollar sign with stacks of bills and coins behind

The Special Disabilities Capacity Report is Congress’s primary tool for deciding how much to invest in VA’s TBI treatment infrastructure. If the numbers feeding that decision are wrong, the veterans who depend on that care pay the price.

A February 2026 review by the VA Office of Inspector General revealed that in FY 2023, the VA reported the wrong financial data for traumatic brain injury, using obligations rather than actual expenditures, thereby overstating actual TBI spending. More so, they failed to report TBI spending at both the geographic service area and national levels as required by law. The DVA Office of Inspector General’s Report 25-01863-31 also determined that VA’s capacity data did not capture community care services or the extent to which bed capacity was used at its specialized rehabilitation centers.

Pointedly, these data errors are the same as those that have been flagged in prior years. This raises questions about whether Congress receives an accurate picture of VA’s TBI treatment infrastructure. As Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Chairwoman of the House VA Health Subcommittee, stated at a March 2026 oversight hearing: “Wrong data takes resources away from [other] areas of need.”

Brain Injury Emerging as Signature Wound of Iran War

Traumatic brain injury has become the defining wound of America’s war with Iran, with U.S. officials confirming that more than 75% of the 303 service members wounded since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28 have suffered TBIs — the highest such ratio in U.S. military history. Approximately 50,000 American troops were already stationed across the Middle East when the conflict began, with thousands more since deployed.

The injuries are driven overwhelmingly by Iranian drone and missile strikes. When an Iranian drone struck a U.S. operations center at Kuwait’s Shuaiba port in early March, killing six Army Reserve soldiers, dozens more were hospitalized with brain trauma from invisible blast overpressure waves that damage tissue without leaving any external wound.

TBI was already labeled the “signature wound” of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, where the Department of Defense recorded over 518,000 military TBIs since 2000, peaking at 33,000 diagnoses in 2011 alone. The current TBI rate — roughly three times the Iraq-era figure — has alarmed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Sen. Joni Ernst warned that the injury “has become prevalent among hundreds of thousands of service members in recent years,” while Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called TBI research “the minimum that we owe” those who serve.

Pentagon’s New Coding Rules Aim to Protect Warfighters

On January 23, 2026, the Department of Defense’s Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence published updated ICD-10-CM coding guidance specifically for warfighter brain injuries. ICD-10-CM (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification) is the standardized system doctors use to classify and record diagnoses. Without precise codes, injuries go miscounted and undertreated.

The new guidance is particularly critical now, as modern warfare inflicts unique brain hazards. Low-level blast overpressure from repeated weapons firing, extreme G-forces on pilots, and unexplained neurological incidents now have dedicated diagnostic codes, enabling better surveillance and resource allocation.

Just days earlier, on January 20, the Center released a research review revealing that mild TBI raises PTSD risk two- to threefold, findings that will shape military treatment protocols. Meanwhile, the Army’s baseline cognitive screening program, launched in August 2024, aims to assess every troop’s brain health proactively.

House Introduces a BEACON of Hope for Veterans with Brain Injuries

Representative Jack Bergman (MI), along with 5 original co-sponsors [Sarah Elfreth (MD), Kimberlyn King-Hinds (MP), Donald G. Davis (NC), Derrick Van Orden (WI), Morgan Luttrell (TX)] introduced the BEACON Act, H. R. 6993, in January 2026 to transform how the Department of Veterans Affairs treats traumatic brain injuries. The Veterans TBI Breakthrough Exploration of Adaptive Care Opportunities Nationwide Act establishes two grant programs totaling $60 million to fund innovative, non-pharmacological treatments for mild-to-moderate TBI.*

The sponsor of the bill and at least one of its co-sponsors bring personal stakes to this fight. Bergman, a retired Marine Lieutenant General with 40 years of service including Vietnam combat, witnessed how invisible injuries affect service members. Elfreth watched her grandfather – a Korean and Vietnam War veteran – suffer from PTSD, inspiring her earlier success passing Maryland’s David Perez Military Heroes Act.

Veterans often feel “unseen, unheard, and alone” navigating systems that treat symptoms rather than people. The BEACON Act addresses these gaps by funding research into evidence-based alternatives, training clinicians, and partnering academic institutions with VA facilities to bring innovative care directly to veterans.

*Per bill text, the TBI Innovation Grant Program will “award grants to eligible entities… for the development, implementation, and evaluation of approaches and methodologies for prospective randomized control trials for 11 neurorehabilitation treatments for the treatment of chronic mild TBI (mTBI) in veterans.” Additionally, the Act with provide grants for “independent third-party research studies and treatment with respect to supplemental neurorehabilitation treatments of mTBI.”

Internasal Exploration of Brain Injury Treatment

Zunveyl (benzgalantamine) tablets are used to treat Alzheimer’s, FDA-approved in July 2024. Through a $750,00 grant, awarded by the Department of Defense AMRMC, Army Medical Research and Material Command to Alpha Cognition, the manufacturer behind Zunveyl, has since been exploring its additional treatment possibilities. In a January 8, 2026 press release, CEO of Alpha Cognition CEO Michael McFadden stated, “We are exploring Zunveyl and its effect on cognitive impairment with mild Traumatic Brain Injury [for which there no current FDA-approved treatment].”

The scientific rationale behind Zunveyl, not as a tablet, but as an internasal formation, for brain injury centers on acetylcholine* disruption following a TBI. Studies have shown that this delivery system achieves 10-fold higher brain concentration compared to oral administration.

*Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that relays signals between nerves and muscles for voluntary movement, triggering muscle contraction at the neuromuscular junction; it also plays crucial roles in the brain for learning, memory, attention, and in the autonomic nervous system for functions like heart rate, digestion, and breathing, acting as both an excitatory and inhibitory messenger depending on the receptor

Federal Funding Advances “Holy Grail” of TBI Diagnosis

A Boston company developing a non-invasive way to detect dangerous brain swelling after traumatic brain injury has received $5.5 million in federal funding from the NIH Blueprint MedTech Program and Department of War’s Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program.

This new non-invasive technology, CranioSense, uses a forehead patch and clip-on sensors to detect elevated pressure without surgery and could transform TBI emergency care. Currently, measuring intracranial pressure – which if elevated can cause brain damage, coma, or death – requires drilling into the skull. This limits testing of brain swelling to only the most critical patients, meaning only approximately 2% of TBI patients ever have their brain pressure measured.

A retired U.S. Army Special Operations Command consultant called the new technology “a ‘Holy Grail’ of prolonged casualty care” that addresses “one of the biggest gaps in monitoring critical casualties.”

The December 2025 grants will support device development and validation ahead of FDA approval. If cleared, the system could make brain pressure assessment “as routine as blood pressure measurement” in emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at accident scenes – catching dangerous swelling early when intervention can save lives.