"Common PTSD Drug No More Effective Than a Placebo" reads the title of an article published recently in Medical News Today. It details the results of a study published in the December 1, 2006 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. Not to sound like a Scientologist here, ooh no, but it's interesting to read that a common pharmaceutical approach to an illness like PTSD may have little or no value, according to psychiatristric researchers. The question is: is anyone still being prescribed it? And the guess is, yes, despite what this study indicates.
Says the article, in part, "Guanfacine, a medication commonly prescribed to alleviate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, is no more effective than a placebo, according to a study led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
"There was no benefit at all, and there were several adverse side effects," says lead author Thomas Neylan, MD, medical director of the PTSD treatment program at SFVAMC."People with symptoms of PTSD should probably stay away from this drug and others of its type." Interesting...
