News Morning After Pill For Ptsd?

[yomama]

I guess the Israelis are cooking up a "Morning After" pill for PTSD: http://www.haaretz.com/print-editio...l-for-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-1.376253

I'm skeptical. And what about complex trauma?

 

[intothelight]

Interesting article, but it is very limited in it's scope and application.

 

[Srain]

At first I thought it was a joke and quite funny at that! However, you know, I read a long and thought about all the known victims of trauma such as sexua/violencel and accident as well as soldiers, that could have benefited and might, well it just seems like the days when the "Morning After Pill" was a Fairy Tale. Not an option for everyone, not an option for me, but great if it can help just one person.

I'm hoping it becomes viable.

Rain

 

[Misera1013]

I heard about this too. If it can help and be given to someone that was in a car accident, then it's worth it!

 

[anthony]

This has been attempted before with beta blockers, still didn't work.

I noted in that article that they are referencing immediate accidents that show the normal PTS reactions, and instead like what is going on in the world right now with PTSD, they have swapped PTS for PTSD. It is normal to have PTS after a traumatic event, and they stated how PTSD is instant, which is not factual at all. PTS is typically within days of a traumatic event within some people, not all, and does not indicate whether the person will develop PTSD later on, which they dismiss as being instant, instead PTSD is actually more something that develops over time, not after a traumatic event. So there research is kind off skewed IMO already, with another attempt to take a pill as a magic cure approach, which so far has proven 100% ineffective for PTSD.

I do love reading research, and its interesting they have gone towards a hormone approach...

I'm skeptical. And what about complex trauma?

Skeptical would be good IMO... and no, this would not help complex trauma, as they have concluded that PTSD is apparently something you get immediately after a traumatic event, which just isn't the case.

Pharmaceutical companies trying a different avenue of revenue, and some people will be silly enough to adopt it.

You can have two people exposed to the one event, one has PTS after the event, the other doesn't. The one with PTS subsides over the next couple of months, never to be seen again... no PTSD present. The other, who had no reaction, suddenly five years down the track, develops PTSD because their relationship broke down, but all that's in their brain now is that traumatic event 5 years ago. The relationship breakdown was the catalyst, not the cause of what they have now developed.

You could also have the same initial result above, and neither get PTSD ever.

 

[yomama]

Pharmaceutical companies trying a different avenue of revenue

This is exactly what I thought. And what a smart move! Not only do psychiatrists love to throw pills at complex psycho-social problems, consumers also want the quickest fix. I suppose it might be helpful to some people, just as all drugs that hit the market are helpful to some people. I just worry about millions of PTSD and/or complex trauma sufferers getting hopes up for the magic bullet that ultimately shoots us in the foot.

 

[BloomInWinter]

I'm concerned with the trend of using soldiers as lab animals. Even with the best research design, the bias is built in.

...and so is coersion, if only through military culture.

Soldiers deserve lifelong monitoring, support, and treatment. Until public will accepts and demands it....we'll keep seeing these 'penny-wise but pound foolish' short term fixes being promoted....not that I wouldn't love for some good to come out of it.

 

[Girl3]

The science behind this is primarily based on cortisol levels being drawn within 8 hours and repeated at 16 hours within 24 hours of trauma and then following patients over 6 months of more. Those patients who have a deficient rise in cortisol at 8 hours but not at 16 hours were far more likely to develop PTSD. So while the acute stressor doesn't cause the PTSD, perhaps the inability of some patients to have a proper rise in cortisol soon after trauma - due to some biologic factor that is inheritable - may be part of why people get PTSD. So the thought is - give people an artificial boost of cortisol within 6 hours of a trauma, and you may stave off at least some of them from getting PTSD. Studies so far have been small in total number of participants, but are based on good basic science concepts. That is - we know the hypothalamus changes in response to chronic cortisol levels, and that chronically stressed people have less of an appropriate jump in cortisol when you do something stressful to them - like surgery. A number of these studies have been performed on civilian populations, like Israelis, where massive traumas occur routinely.

I think we all know how hard it is to find a decent therapist/MD. If there were ways to help prevent people from ending up like me, I'd be for it, especially since my daughter will be genetically predisposed. I would rather my daughter get a cortisol pill than spend decades being suicidal. Because my own traumas started 47 years ago, the studies I have participated in have been targeted for CPTSD. But if I had a new trauma and someone wanted to give me cortisol, I'd do it in a heart beat.