Propranolol May Help Patients With PTSD

While exposure therapy is recognized as one of the best strategies for treating patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), many continue to experience significant problems. Astudy published inAJP in Advance suggests that patients with PTSD who take propranolol (a noradrenergic beta-receptor blocker) prior to recalling their traumatic event may experience greater PTSD symptom reduction than those who do not take the medication.“PTSD participants who actively recalled their traumatic event under the influence of propranolol once a week for up to six weeks showed a substantial decrease in symptom ratings compared with placebo,” wrote Alain Brunet, Ph.D., of McGill University and colleagues. “The decrease was evident f rom both the clinician’s and the participant’s perspective.”Sixty adults diagnosed with long-standing PTSD were randomized to receive either propranolol or placebo 90 minutes before a brief memory reactivation session, once a week for six consecutive weeks. Patients in the treatment arm received 0.67 mg/kg of conventional (short-acting) propranolol, plus 1.0 mg/kg of long-acting propranolol. The patient-rated PTSD Checklist Specific (PCL-S) scale was administered at the beginning of each treatment session, before propranolol was administered. The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) was used one week before and one week after the six-week trial.Sixty minutes after ingesting the medication or placebo, the participants were asked to write a o...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: ajp in advance post-traumatic stress disorder propanolol PTSD trauma reactivation therapy Source Type: research