Nov 10 2008
Getting Closer to Preventing PTSD
Researchers are getting closer to finding a way to prevent the occurrence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Israeli researchers have discovered one shot of corticosterone prevents high-stress symptoms in mice after they experienced a very high-stress event.
PTSD is a psychological condition that develops in some individuals after they see or experience a life-threatening or otherwise very traumatic event, such as a car accident, war, rape, assault, or a natural disaster. Symptoms of PTSD include irritability, outbursts of anger, flashbacks, intrusive and persistent thoughts or memories of the traumatic event, intrusive images of the traumatic event, avoidance of people, places, and things that remind one of the traumatic event, and sleep difficulties.
The researchers at Ben Gurion University and Tel Aviv University in Israel divided mice into two groups, a control group and a treatment group. All mice were exposed to a stressful situation, litter soaked in cat urine. The researchers then observed about 25% of the mice developed high-stress responses, such as behavioral freezing when the researchers exposed them to reminders of the situation and a high startle response.
The researchers gave the mice in the treatment group a single high dose shot of corticosterone, a hormone related to cortisol.
The researchers discovered that mice who had been given a high dose of corticosterone right after being exposed to a stressor were spared from experiencing negative consequences of the stress (i.e., high-stress responses and symptoms).
Dr. Hagit Cohen at the Anxiety and Stress Research Unit at Ben Gurion University asserted, “Single high-dose corticosteroid treatment may thus be worthy of clinical investigation as a possible avenue for early pharmacotherapeutic intervention in the acute phase, aimed at prevention of chronic stress-related disorders, such as PTSD.”
Perhaps one day a treatment like this will be available to individuals who have witnessed or experienced traumatic events to help protect them from developing PTSD.
Source:
Medical News Today: Stopping the Pain of PTSD Before it Starts
