With respect to sort of brain neurobiology, one of the most replicated findings we have,

sort of it's held up over time, is related to a chemical called neuropeptide Y.

So we found at Sears School early on that the active duty personnel who had more NPI actually performed better as rated by the cadre when they were in interrogation stress.

For the military folks, I think that's the function, one of the main functions of training like you're going to fight.

So there's not, you're reducing any controllable novelty in the battle space because novelty is potentially more stressful to our brain.

Hey, welcome back to another episode of the Modern War Institute podcast.

I'm John Amble, editorial director at MWI, and in this episode, MWI's major Jake Moraldi talks to Dr. Charles Morgan.

Dr. Morgan is a forensic psychologist whose work at Yale University at the National Center for Post-Thromatic

Stress Disorder, and with various military and government organizations, has helped us to

understand the nature of stress and psychological responses to it on the battlefield.

From a neurobiological perspective, what drives PTSD?

Is there something that makes certain people more or less susceptible?

What happens inside our bodies and in our brains that impacts the way we perform in combat?

Dr. Morgan engages with these and other questions in this tremendously interesting conversation, which you're about to hear.

Before we get to it, though, as always, just a couple quick notes.

First, if you aren't yet following MWI on social media, find us on Twitter, Facebook, and

LinkedIn. It's a great way to get in touch and give us feedback, which we love, and also to

stay up to date on the new articles, podcast episodes, and research we're releasing every day.

And lastly, of course, what you hear in this episode are the views of the participants and

do not represent those of West Point, the Army, or any other agency of the U.S. government.

All right, here's Jake Moraldi and Dr. Charles Morgan.

Dr. Morgan, thank you for taking the time to come talk to us today.

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