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Clinical Trial Summary

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects many individuals who experience a traumatic event. There are a variety of treatment options for PTSD, including psychotherapy (talk therapy) options, as well as medications, such as the drug prazosin. Each of the treatment options available is effective at significantly reducing the symptoms of PTSD in some, but not all, individuals with PTSD. However, investigators are not yet able to predict in advance who is likely to respond to which of the available treatments. Neither are the investigators able to explain what changes in the brain after exposure to a traumatic stressors, and why it results in persistent symptoms of PTSD for some people, but not for others. In this study, the investigators are testing two things: First, is testing whether two simple, easy tests of how an individual's blood pressure changes with standing and how an individual's eye reacts to a pulse of light may be able to predict whether that person is likely to respond to the medication prazosin for PTSD. Second, is testing whether those who have been exposed to a traumatic stress show differences in how their body regulates the response to the stress-signal noradrenaline.


Clinical Trial Description

In this study, individuals will undergo an assessment that includes taking a history of their previous exposure to traumatic events, an assessment of current mental health symptoms including those associated with PTSD, and an assessment of physiologic measures, such as blood pressure and pupillary responses to light. For individuals who have current symptoms of PTSD and for whom use of the medication prazosin is a reasonable and safe option, a second phase of the study will be offered. In this second phase, how the individual's PTSD symptoms change when taking prazosin will be assessed. In addition, to test whether any changes are related to the prazosin itself or are part of a placebo effect, the individual will be randomly assigned to periods where he or she is taking a pill that looks like prazosin but is actual placebo (a pill with no active ingredient), and periods where he or she is taking a pill that looks the same but this time is actual prazosin. ;


Study Design


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


NCT number NCT03539614
Study type Interventional
Source VA Office of Research and Development
Contact Rebecca C Hendrickson, MD PhD
Phone (206) 277-5054
Email Rebecca.Hendrickson@va.gov
Status Recruiting
Phase Phase 3
Start date June 4, 2018
Completion date September 30, 2024

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