Turkana analysis assistant Amuria Lotiira holds a saliva assortment tube and explains the protocol to potential contributors in an ASU research. In 2015, a crew examined ranges of cortisol and testosterone from saliva samples from Turkana pastoralist warriors in Kenya. A Turkana-area chief sits to the left of Lotiira. Credit score: Matthew Zefferman
In accordance with the World Well being Group, about 3.9% of the world’s inhabitants has had post-traumatic stress dysfunction in some unspecified time in the future throughout their lives. That quantity is greater in the USA, at about 6%.
PTSD can occur to a person after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic occasion and may final for months or years. However there’s a lot that’s nonetheless not understood about this psychological well being situation.
Anthropologists, social scientists and veterans from Arizona State College and the Naval Postgraduate College are the primary to investigate the connection between the hormones cortisol and testosterone and PTSD in a non-industrialized society.
This new research sheds extra mild on the PTSD puzzle. “Little evidence that posttraumatic stress is associated with diurnal hormone dysregulation in Turkana pastoralists,” was printed within the journal Evolution, Drugs, & Public Well being.
Homing in on hormones
Earlier research about PTSD and hormones have targeted solely on folks residing in Western or European industrialized societies. They included individuals who suffered from several types of trauma like automobile crashes, assault and a number of deployments, in response to Ben Trumble, a analysis scientist on the Institute of Human Origins and affiliate professor on the College of Human Evolution and Social Change.
The research confirmed nearly all of folks identified with PTSD had little or no change of their cortisol ranges all through the day. As a substitute, the outcomes confirmed “blunted” ranges of cortisol and never the traditional rise and fall patterns.
“In healthy men, hormones like testosterone and cortisol follow a pattern throughout the day,” Trumble stated. “Hormone levels are the highest just after waking up, and then decline rapidly. Levels are low throughout the day, and rise again at night.”
The massive query Trumble and colleagues needed to reply was, would they see this similar sample in a non-industrialized inhabitants with individuals who suffered from the identical kind of trauma?
“Our study is the first to examine associations between hormones (cortisol and testosterone) among the Turkana,” Trumble stated. “Turkana pastoralists experience a high degree of combat exposure, and 28% of men have symptoms of PTSD. Because nearly everyone gets exposed to combat, we can see if there are biological differences in hormones for those with PTSD and those without PTSD. So, in this case we can compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges.”
What the ASU scientists discovered was shocking.
“We did not find any difference in cortisol for Turkana warriors with a provisional PTSD diagnosis versus those without PTSD,” stated Michael Baumgarten, an Institute of Human Origins-affiliated graduate scholar and Military Ranger veteran. “Both groups of warriors had nearly identical cortisol patterns. Interestingly, Turkana men with PTSD had lower testosterone when they woke up compared to those without PTSD.”
“A more applied takeaway is to look at the results of this study and either retain or increase the level of skepticism one has of narratives that claim to have a crystal-clear picture of how human physiology responds to the stresses of combat—especially if they are trying to sell you something,” he stated.
Why the Turkana?
Being a livestock farmer, or pastoralist, in Kenya close to South Sudan may be harmful and lethal.
The Turkana are cell pastoralists and have interaction in cattle raiding, stated Matthew Zefferman, an assistant professor on the Naval Postgraduate College and U.S. Air Pressure veteran.
Zefferman spent half a 12 months within the discipline with the Turkana throughout his postdoctoral fellowship at ASU.
“The Turkana in our study area, who raid other pastoralists, typically do so across the disputed border with South Sudan,” he stated. “They travel by foot, often over 60 miles and engage in small and large raids. They are also raided by members of other pastoral groups. These raids can result in firefights and the death of family members, and the loss of animals. About half of adult male deaths in the study area is due to raiding.”
Turkana warriors expertise comparable trauma from fight publicity throughout cattle raids. Additionally they share comparable cultural backgrounds and are the identical gender. This differs from earlier research carried out the place trauma and cultural background are totally different.
“It is interesting to see how the physiological response to trauma exposure can differ based on cultural environment,” stated Sarah Mathew, a analysis scientist on the Institute of Human Origins and affiliate professor on the College of Human Evolution and Social Change. “It suggests that we can’t answer basic questions about human biology by only studying industrialized populations.”
Mathew’s relationship with the Turkana since 2007 led to this challenge and lots of others, offering priceless details about non-industrialized cooperation, cultural norms and warfare.
Whereas the research solutions questions on hormonal regulation, there’s nonetheless the query of why are the Turkana cortisol ranges “normal” in these identified with PTSD in contrast with Western populations?
The research websites many doable causes together with bodily exercise and cultural variations. The scientists say extra analysis is required.
A earlier publication by Zefferman and Mathew said that in contrast to troopers of nation-state societies, “Turkana warriors are strongly endorsed by the entire neighborhood, have elevated standing, carry out culturally sanctioned rituals after raids, and are deeply built-in with their corresponding civilian neighborhood.
“These longstanding cultural traditions of warriorhood may buffer them from some of the negative physiological responses to combat trauma.”
Mathew and the others emphasize the significance of sharing their findings with the Turkana. The researchers have engaged with the neighborhood over a number of years, and focus on findings from this and different ongoing research and what these findings imply for future analysis.
“We can only do this research because of the support and help of the people we do the research with—the Turkana,” Zefferman stated. “We acknowledge that their willingness to work with us is what has allowed us to do that analysis with potential advantages to our society.
“We go there at the grace of the people we work with.”
Extra info:
Matthew R Zefferman et al, Little proof that posttraumatic stress is related to diurnal hormone dysregulation in Turkana pastoralists, Evolution, Drugs, and Public Well being (2025). DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoaf004
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Results of PTSD on physique range by tradition, research of Turkana warriors suggests (2025, February 28)
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