Can beta-blockers also help PTSD?
Filed in archive Treatment by kevin on July 28, 2005
"Cornell University psychiatrists are carrying out tests using beta-blockers, the journal Nature reports.Propranolol is commonly used for stage fright or performance anxiety
The drug has been shown to interfere with the way the brain stores memories.
Post-traumatic stress disorder affects around one in three of people caught up in such events, and memories can be triggered just by a sound or smell.
People with PTSD are given counselling, but because it is not always effective, researchers have been looking for alternative therapies . . .
. . . The beta-blocker propranolol has been found to block the neurotransmitters involved in laying down memories.
Studies have shown that rats who have learned to fear a tone followed by an electric shock lose that fear if propranolol is administered after the tone starts."
(although not FDA-approved for that treatment). Is PTSD the next step? ("Beta-blockers 'blot out memories'", BBC, Jul.28)Permalink: Can beta-blockers also help PTSD?
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