Active clinical trials for "Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic"

This study is exploring the use of an intervention designed to treat PTSD in individuals with comorbid PTSD and substance abuse resulting from the attacks of September 11 or from military service in Iraq. A cognitive behavioral treatment protocol will be used to treat PTSD. The exposure component of the protocol will be enhanced with the use of virtual reality in which the client will view a virtual environment while describing their trauma.

Study hypothesis: that a standardized course of Eastern practices (Breath Water Sound Course -BWS) will significantly relieve PTSD and depression in tsunami victims. Further, that a client-centered exposure treatment (Traumatic Incident Reduction- TIR) would provide additional, significant relief of PTSD and depression in tsunami victims. 180 tsunami victims in Southern India will be divided into three groups: those that only receive BWS course, those that receive the BWS course and TIR and a wait-list control. They will be pretested with the PCL-17 (PTSD scale), the Beck Depression Inventory and the General Health Questionaire. These scales will also be administered post-service as well as five weeks post pre-testing and at three and six month intervals.

The purpose of this research of 400 participants is to determine whether a drug called risperidone can decrease symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is a placebo-controlled study, meaning that half of the participants will be assigned to receive a pill that contains no drug. The treatment phase of the study will last for 6 months, during which time participants will continue to receive all their usual treatments in addition to the study treatment and will be asked to complete procedures and assessments (questionnaires, interviews, laboratory tests, physical exams, etc.) related to their PTSD symptoms at various points within the 6-month treatment phase. At the end of the 6-month study, participants will discontinue the study treatment.

The proposed study has three distinct but related research objectives. The first goal is to measure physiological correlates of successful treatment with Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Individuals with PTSD often experience elevated heart rates and other objectively measurable signs of anxiety when confronted with safe situations that remind them of past dangerous situations. We will measure physiological responses and compare the outcomes to patient's self reported subjective accounts of symptom improvement on traditional measures of PTSD. Developing a way to measure objective gains in symptoms improvement may help researchers who are studying ways to improve PTSD treatment. The second goal of the study is to investigate if yohimbine, a drug found to promote a specific type of learning, will improve treatment outcomes for veterans in PTSD treatment. The third goal is to investigate if ability to get used to loud startling audio tones correlates to baseline PTSD pathology and treatment outcomes for PE. This goal represents an important step forward in understanding characteristics of heritable traits that are related PTSD. It is significant because such research may one day lead to the development of individual responder policies that will assist patients by individualizing treatment plans based on personal characteristics.

This study will investigate the use of sertraline (Zoloft) to decrease alcohol consumption and crime-related post-traumatic stress disorder in those individuals with both disorders. This will be a 12-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind outpatient trial. All subjects will receive cognitive behavioral therapy in addition to a placebo or sertraline. Comprehensive evaluation will be done at study entry; treatment termination; and 6, 9, and 12 months after study entry.

The research project will offer psychotherapeutic treatment to Somali refugees with PTSD and comorbid khat dependence. In this case series, evidence-based techniques will be applied and adapted to the cultural background of Somali refugees in Kenya.

SimCoach, a computer program featuring a virtual human that speaks and gestures in a videogame-like interface, is designed to encourage servicemembers, especially those with signs or symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression, to seek help to improve their psychological health. The assessment included a formative component assessing SimCoach's design, development, and implementation approaches, as well as a summative component assessing outcomes among participants in a user experience survey and a randomized controlled trial (RCT).

A before and after study of veterans who took part in a 12-week loving-kindness meditation course as an adjunct to their usual care for posttraumatic stress disorder.

This is an open-label pilot study of adjunctive asenapine for the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in veterans who have not fully remitted to an adequate trial of standard antidepressant treatment.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is prevalent mental illness (~9% life-time) that results from exposure to trauma. As it is associated with vastly heterogeneous origins, accurate diagnosis and optimal treatment strategies are sometimes very difficult to achieve. No known biomarker exists, which makes it difficult to assess treatment response and functional outcomes. The recent brain imaging studies have suggested that PTSD patients show abnormal brain connectivity measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The investigators propose that cognitive processing therapy may ameliorate this functional connectivity abnormality which may be related with their symptomatic improvement.