Almost a decade of war in the Middle East with its numerous deployments, the physical and emotional strain of combat and long periods of separation from loved ones has taken its toll. According to a recent study in the Archives of General Psychiatry, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rates now range between 20-30 percent for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A study led by PTSD researchers Barbara Rothbaum, PhD, ABPP, and Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD, and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is currently under way at Emory, testing the combination of the drug d-cycloserine (DCS) with virtual reality therapy to help alleviate the symptoms of PTSD.
“PTSD is a serious condition that can become a chronic problem with devastating life-altering effects,” says Rothbaum, principal investigator, professor of psychiatry and director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program at Emory University School of Medicine.
A large part of the problem PTSD patients have is fear of the memory itself, she says. “Although the memories will never really go away, we believe that the combination of the virtual reality exposure therapy and DCS will make it easier for patients to learn that they can handle their memories.”
Previous studies by Emory and Yerkes neuroscientist, Michael Davis, PhD, have shown that DCS enhances the extinction of fear.
Ressler, Rothbaum, and Davis completed the first human trial using DCS with Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for acrophobia, or fear of heights, in 2004. The encouraging outcome of that study and subsequent studies on social phobia and obsessive compulsive disorder inspired the researchers to reach out to victims of trauma with the same combination of DCS and virtual reality therapy.
“This particular combination of treatment techniques and medication arises from years of studying fear and, most importantly, what decreases fear,” says Rothbaum. “We are very excited about the prospects of this combined therapy.”
The first participant treated with the virtual Iraq exposure therapy showed a 56 percent decrease in PTSD scores following four therapy sessions.
“Persons with PTSD experience both psychological and physical effects that can worsen with time,” Ressler explains. “We believe this study is opening up some new doors that will help us get people back to their normal lives quickly, and with more robust and long-lasting results.”
For information about study participation, call (404) 712-8300 or email at tarp@emory.edu.
Davis is a co-investigator in the study and both Ressler and Davis are faculty members at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, and the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience.
Lead therapist in the study is Emory psychiatry faculty member Maryrose Gerardi, PhD.
A Virtual Iraq module was developed by Dr. Skip Rizzo and colleagues at the Institute for Creative Technologies and School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California.
Source: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Emory University.
