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The goal of treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is to manage core symptomatology, including intrusive reexperiencing, emotional numbing, cognitive distortions, avoidance, and hyperarousal, and improve the individual’s social and occupational functioning. Pharmacologic treatments also aid in stabilizing psychiatric conditions, including mood, anxiety, psychotic, and substance use disorders, which frequently accompany PTSD or occur independently after a traumatic event. Based on clinical trials, approximately half of all PTSD patients will experience 30–60 % symptom improvement within 8–12 weeks of initiating an adequately dosed psychopharmacologic treatment. While the long-term goal is complete remission, a substantial number of patients have treatment-refractory PTSD. In cases where full symptomatic relief cannot be achieved, improvements in psychiatric comorbidities, resiliency, functioning, and quality of life are achievable through a combination of psychological and pharmacological treatments. This chapter discusses the pharmacological treatments for PTSD; however, many of these principles apply to the treatment of depression, anxiety, and sleep problems associated with the broader trauma-related disorders. |
