The Institute of Medicine reviewed the evidence for treatments for symptoms associated with Gulf War syndrome and related conditions. They concluded that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors and cognitive behavioural therapy were most likely to be beneficial to patients.

Multisymptom illness is more prevalent in Gulf War veterans than veterans of previous conflicts, but the pattern of comorbidities is similar for actively deployed and nondeployed military personnel.

The PIE principles were in place for the "not yet diagnosed nervous" (NYDN) cases:

- Proximity – treat the casualties close to the front and within sound of the fighting.

- Immediacy – treat them without delay and not wait until the wounded were all dealt with.

- Expectancy – ensure that everyone had the expectation of their return to the front after a rest and replenishment.

United States medical officer Thomas W. Salmon is often quoted as the originator of these PIE principles. However, his real strength came from going to Europe and learning from the Allies and then instituting the lessons. By the end of the war, Salmon had set up a complete system of units and procedures that was then the "world's best practice". After the war, he maintained his efforts in educating society and the military. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his contributions.

Effectiveness of the PIE approach has not been confirmed by studies of CSR, and there is some evidence that it is not effective in preventing PTSD.

US services now use the more recently developed BICEPS principles:

- Brevity

- Immediacy

- Centrality or contact

- Expectancy

- Proximity

- Simplicity

Figures from the 1982 Lebanon war showed that with proximal treatment 90% of CSR casualties returned to their unit, usually within 72 hours. With rearward treatment only 40% returned to their unit. It was also found that treatment efficacy went up with the application of a variety of front line treatment principles versus just one treatment. In Korea, similar statistics were seen, with 85% of US battle fatigue casualties returned to duty within three days and 10% returned to limited duties after several weeks. Though these numbers seem to promote the claims that proximal PIE or BICEPS treatment is generally effective at reducing the effects of combat stress reaction, other data suggests that long term PTSD effects may result from the hasty return of affected individuals to combat. Both PIE and BICEPS are meant to return as many soldiers as possible to combat, and may actually have adverse effects on the long term health of service members who are rapidly returned to the front-line after combat stress control treatment. Although the PIE principles were used extensively in the Vietnam War, the post traumatic stress disorder lifetime rate for Vietnam veterans was 30% in a 1989 US study and 21% in a 1996 Australian study. In a study of Israeli Veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, 37% of veterans diagnosed with CSR during combat were later diagnosed with PTSD, compared with 14% of control veterans.

While sick building syndrome (SBS) encompasses a multitude of non-specific symptoms, building-related illness (BRI) comprises specific, diagnosable symptoms caused by certain agents (chemicals, bacteria, fungi, etc.). These can typically be identified, measured, and quantified. There are usually 4 causal agents in BRI; 1.) Immunologic, 2.) Infectious, 3.) toxic, and 4.) irritant. For instance, Legionnaire's disease, usually caused by "Legionella pneumophila", involves a specific organism which could be ascertained through clinical findings as the source of contamination within a building. SBS does not have any known cure; alleviation consists of removing the affected person from the building associated with non-specific symptoms. BRI, on the other hand, utilizes treatment appropriate for the contaminant identified within the building (e.g., antibiotics for Legionnaire's disease). In most cases, simply improving the indoor air quality (IAQ) of a particular building will attenuate, or even eliminate, the acute symptoms of SBS, while removal of the source contaminant would prove more effective for a specific illness, as in the case of BRI. Building-Related Illness is vital to the overall understanding of Sick Building Syndrome because BRI illustrates a causal path to infection, theoretically. Office BRI may more likely than not be explained by three events: “Wide range in the threshold of response in any population (susceptibility), a spectrum of response to any given agent, or variability in exposure within large office buildings." Isolating any one of the three aspects of office BRI can be a great challenge, which is why those who find themselves with BRI should take three steps, history, examinations, and interventions. History describes the action of continually monitoring and recording the health of workers experiencing BRI, as well as obtaining records of previous building alterations or related activity. Examinations go hand in hand with monitoring employee health. This step is done by physically examining the entire workspace and evaluating possible threats to health status among employees. Interventions follow accordingly based off the results of the Examination and History report.

In various studies, about one half of the patients who seek medical treatment for symptoms of MCS meet the criteria for depressive and anxiety disorders. Because many people eliminate whole categories of food in an effort to reduce symptoms, a complete review of the patient's diet may be needed to avoid nutritional deficiencies.

In response to a WHO call for papers at the 5th Paris Appeal Congress of Environmental Idiopathic Intolerance conference that took place in Belgium on the 18th of May, a report that was generally supportive quoted a number of international practitioners. This was provisionally accepted by the Spanish health ministry, and later found proven by a judge in the case of a plumber in the Province of Castellón

MCS is a diagnosis of exclusion, and the first step in diagnosing a potential MCS sufferer is to identify and treat all other conditions which are present and which often explain the reported symptoms. For example, depression, allergy, thyroid disorders, orthostatic syndromes, lupus, hypercalcemia, and anxiety need to be carefully evaluated and, if present, properly treated. The "gold standard" procedure for identifying a person who has MCS is to test response to the random introduction of chemicals the patient has self-identified as relevant. This may be done in a carefully designed challenge booth to eliminate the possibility of contaminants in the room. Chemicals and controls, sometimes called prompts, are introduced in a random method, usually scent-masked. The test subject does not know when a prompt is being given. Objective and subjective responses are measured. Objective measures, such as the galvanic skin response indicate psychological arousal, such as fear, anxiety, or anger. Subjective responses include patient self-reports. A diagnosis of MCS can only be justified when the subject cannot consciously distinguish between chemicals and controls, and when responses are consistently present with exposure to chemicals and consistently absent when prompted by a control.

A 1999 consensus statement recommends that MCS be diagnosed according to six standardized criteria:

1. Symptoms are reproducible with repeated (chemical) exposures

2. The condition has persisted for a significant period of time

3. Low levels of exposure (lower than previously or commonly tolerated) result in manifestations of the syndrome ("i.e." increased sensitivity)

4. The symptoms improve or resolve completely when the triggering chemicals are removed

5. Responses often occur to multiple chemically unrelated substances

6. Symptoms involve multiple-organ symptoms (runny nose, itchy eyes, headache, scratchy throat, ear ache, scalp pain, mental confusion or sleepiness, palpitations of the heart, upset stomach, nausea and/or diarrhea, abdominal cramping, aching joints).

A number of measurements exist to assess exposure and early biological effects for organophosphate poisoning. Measurements of OP metabolites in both the blood and urine can be used to determine if a person has been exposed to organophosphates. Specifically in the blood, metabolites of cholinesterases, such as butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) activity in plasma, neuropathy target esterase (NTE) in lymphocytes, and of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in red blood cells. Due to both AChE and BuChE being the main targets of organophosphates, their measurement is widely used as an indication of an exposure to an OP. The main restriction on this type of diagnosis is that depending on the OP the degree to which either AChE or BuChE are inhibited differs; therefore, measure of metabolites in blood and urine do not specify for a certain OP. However, for fast initial screening, determining AChE and BuChE activity in the blood are the most widely used procedures for confirming a diagnosis of OP poisoning. The most widely used portable testing device is the Test-mate ChE field test, which can be used to determine levels of Red Blood Cells (RBC), AChE and plasma (pseudo) cholinesterase (PChE) in the blood in about four minutes. This test has been shown to be just as effective as a regular laboratory test and because of this, the portable ChE field test is frequently used by people who work with pesticides on a daily basis.

The treatment of chronic shell shock varied widely according to the details of the symptoms, the views of the doctors involved, and other factors including the rank and class of the patient.

There were so many officers and men suffering from shell shock that 19 British military hospitals were wholly devoted to the treatment of cases. Ten years after the war, 65,000 veterans of the war were still receiving treatment for it in Britain. In France it was possible to visit aged shell shock victims in hospital in 1960.

Some studies have shown a small difference between genders, with women having slightly higher reports of SBS symptoms compared to men. However, many other studies have shown an even higher difference in the report of sick building syndrome symptoms in women compared to men. It is not entirely clear, however, if this is due to biological, social, or occupational factors.

A 2001 study published in the Journal Indoor Air 2001 gathered 1464 office-working participants to increase the scientific understanding of gender differences under the Sick Building Syndrome phenomenon. Using questionnaires, ergonomic investigations, building evaluations, as well as physical, biological, and chemical variables, the investigators obtained results that compare with past studies of SBS and gender. The study team found that across most test variables, prevalence rates were different in most areas, but there was also a deep stratification of working conditions between genders as well. For example, men’s workplace tend to be significantly larger and have all around better job characteristics. Secondly, there was a noticeable difference in reporting rates, finding that women have higher rates of reporting roughly 20% higher than men. This information was similar to that found in previous studies, indicating a potential difference in willingness to report.

There might be a gender difference in reporting rates of sick building syndrome because women tend to report more symptoms than men do. Along with this, some studies have found that women have a more responsive immune system and are more prone to mucosal dryness and facial erythema. Also, women are alleged by some to be more exposed to indoor environmental factors because they have a greater tendency to have clerical jobs, wherein they are exposed to unique office equipment and materials (example: blueprint machines), whereas men often have jobs based outside of offices.

Recent research by Johns Hopkins University has found that the brain tissue of combat veterans who have been exposed to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) exhibit a pattern of injury in the areas responsible for decision making, memory and reasoning. This evidence has led the researchers to conclude that shell shock may not only be a psychological disorder, since the symptoms exhibited by sufferers from the first world war are very similar to these injuries.

Timothy F. Jones, of the Tennessee Department of Health, recommends the following action be taken in the case of an outbreak:

- Attempt to separate persons with illness associated with the outbreak.

- Promptly perform physical examination and basic laboratory testing sufficient to exclude serious acute illness.

- Monitor and provide oxygen as necessary for hyperventilation.

- Minimize unnecessary exposure to medical procedures, emergency personnel, media or other potential anxiety-stimulating situations.

- Notify public health authorities of apparent outbreak.

- Openly communicate with physicians caring for other patients.

- Promptly communicate results of laboratory and environmental testing to patients.

- While maintaining confidentiality, explain that other people are experiencing similar symptoms and improving without complications.

- Remind patients that rumors and reports of "suspected causes" are not equivalent to confirmed results.

- Acknowledge that symptoms experienced by the patient are real.

- Explain potential contribution of anxiety to the patient's symptoms.

- Reassure patient that long-term sequelae from current illness are not expected.

- As appropriate, reassure patient that thorough clinical, epidemiologic and environmental investigations have identified no toxic cause for the outbreak or reason for further concern.

Some responses by authorities to MPI are not appropriate. Intense media coverage seems to exacerbate outbreaks. Once it is determined that the illness is psychogenic, it should not be given credence by authorities. For example, in the Singapore factory case study, calling in a medicine man to perform an exorcism seemed to perpetuate the outbreak.

Many veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have faced significant physical, emotional, and relational disruptions. In response, the United States Marine Corps has instituted programs to assist them in re-adjusting to civilian life, especially in their relationships with spouses and loved ones, to help them communicate better and understand what the other has gone through. Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) developed the Battlemind program to assist service members avoid or ameliorate PTSD and related problems. Wounded Warrior Project partnered with the US Department of Veterans Affairs to create Warrior Care Network, a national health system of PTSD treatment centers.

There is debate over the rates of PTSD found in populations, but, despite changes in diagnosis and the criteria used to define PTSD between 1997 and 2013, epidemiological rates have not changed significantly. Most of the current reliable data regarding the epidemiology of PTSD is based on DSM-IV criteria, as the DSM-5 was not introduced until 2013.

The United Nations' World Health Organization publishes estimates of PTSD impact for each of its member states; the latest data available are for 2004. Considering only the 25 most populated countries ranked by overall age-standardized Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) rate, the top half of the ranked list is dominated by Asian/Pacific countries, the US, and Egypt. Ranking the countries by the male-only or female-only rates produces much the same result, but with less meaningfulness, as the score range in the single-sex rankings is much-reduced (4 for women, 3 for men, as compared with 14 for the overall score range), suggesting that the differences between female and male rates, within each country, is what drives the distinctions between the countries.

The hypothesis that those prone to extroversion or neuroticism, or those with low IQ scores, are more likely to be affected in an outbreak of hysterical epidemic has not been consistently supported by research. Bartholomew and Wesseley state that it “seems clear that there is no particular predisposition to mass sociogenic illness and it is a behavioural reaction that anyone can show in the right circumstances.”

Females are affected with mass psychogenic illness at greater rates than males. Adolescents and children are frequently affected in cases of MPI.

Diagnosis is typically made based on a history of significant radiation exposure and suitable clinical findings. An absolute lymphocyte count can give a rough estimate of radiation exposure. Time from exposure to vomiting can also give estimates of exposure levels if they are less than 1000 rad.

Organophosphate pesticides are one of the top causes of poisoning worldwide, with an annual incidence of poisonings among agricultural workers varying from 3-10% per country.

Some medical practitioners are open to a patient's personal research, as this can open lines of communication between doctors and patients, and prove valuable in eliciting more complete or pertinent information from the patient about their present condition.

Other doctors express concern about patients who self-diagnose on the basis of information obtained from the Internet when the patient demonstrates an incomplete or distorted understanding of other diagnostic possibilities and medical likelihoods. A patient who exaggerates one set of symptoms in support of their self-diagnosis while minimizing or suppressing contrary symptoms can impair rather than enhance a doctor's ability to reach a correct diagnosis.

Viet Nguyen (, February 25, 1981 – October 6, 2007) and Duc Nguyen (, born February 25, 1981) were a pair of conjoined twins born in Vietnam and surgically separated in 1988. Viet died in 2007 of natural causes.

Viet and Duc were born on February 25, 1981, in Kon Tum Province, Tây Nguyên, Vietnam. Viet was the elder and Duc was the younger of the two brothers. Their relatives claim that "the reason they became conjoined twins is the influence of Agent Orange that the U.S. military used as a defoliant during the Vietnam War". His mother was farming in the area doused with Agent Orange a year after the Vietnam War had ended. She also drank water from a well in that area. After that, Viet and Duc were born. On October 4, 1988, Viet and Duc were separated in the hospital in Ho Chi Minh City with the help of the Japanese Red Cross after Viet went into a coma.

Duc first entered junior high school, then dropped out and learned computer programming in a school. Now, he works at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. On December 16, 2006, he married Nguyen Thanh Tuyen in Ho Chi Minh City.

Viet's health problems continued after the separation, and he died due to liver failure and pneumonia on October 6, 2007, at the age of 26.

As mentioned, permissive hypotension is unwise. Especially if the crushing weight is on the patient more than 4 hours, but often if it persists more than one hour, careful fluid overload is wise, as well as the administration of intravenous sodium bicarbonate. The San Francisco emergency services protocol calls for a basic adult dose of a 2 L bolus of normal saline followed by 500 ml/h, limited for "pediatric patients and patients with history of cardiac or renal dysfunction."

If the patient cannot be fluid loaded, this may be an indication for a tourniquet to be applied.

Due to the risk of crush syndrome, current recommendation to lay first-aiders (in the UK) is to not release victims of crush injury who have been trapped for more than 15 minutes. Treatment consists of not releasing the tourniquet and fluid overloading the patient with added Dextran 4000 iu and slow release of pressure. If pressure is released during first aid then fluid is restricted and an input-output chart for the patient is maintained, and proteins are decreased in the diet.

The Australian Resuscitation Council recommended in March 2001 that first-aiders in Australia, where safe to do so, release the crushing pressure as soon as possible, avoid using a tourniquet and continually monitor the vital signs of the patient. St John Ambulance Australia First Responders are trained in the same manner.

Radiation, most commonly in the form of X-rays, is used frequently in society in order to produce positive outcomes. The primary use of radiation in healthcare is in the use of radiography for radiographic examination or procedure, and in the use of radiotherapy in the treatment of cancerous conditions. Radiophobia can be a fear which patients experience before and after either of these procedures, it is therefore the responsibility of the healthcare professional at the time, often a Radiographer or Radiation Therapist, to reassure the patients about the stochastic and deterministic effects of radiation on human physiology. Advising patients and other irradiated persons of the various radiation protection measures that are enforced, including the use of lead-rubber aprons, dosimetry and Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) is a common method of informing and reassuring radiophobia sufferers.

Similarly, in industrial radiography there is the possibility of persons to experience radiophobia when radiophobia sufferers are near industrial radiographic equipment.

A self-inflicted wound (SIW), is the act of harming oneself where there are no underlying psychological problems related to the self-injury, but where the injurer wanted to take advantage of being injured.

Most self-inflicted wounds occur during wartime, for various possible reasons.

Potential draftees may self-injure in order to avoid being drafted for health reasons. This was practiced as Abstinence (conscription) by some Jewish conscripts in the Russian Empire.

The most common reason enlisted soldiers self-wound is to render themselves unable to continue serving in combat, thus resulting in their removal from the combat line to a hospital. Thus, self-injury can be used to avoid a more serious combat injury or a combat death.

In prisons and forced labour camps people sometimes self-injure so that they will not be forced to work and could spend some time in the more comfortable conditions of the barracks.

Anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan has been present since the Tokugawa period. Anti-Chinese sentiments in Japan have been on a sharp rise since 2002. According to Pew Global Attitude Project (2008), unfavorable view of China was 84%, unfavorable view of Chinese people was 73%.