The α1-Adrenergic Antagonist Prazosin Improves Sleep and Nightmares in Civilian Trauma Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Heightened noradrenergic reactivity may be a contributing factor in the pathophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Prazosin is an alpha1-adrenoceptor antagonist commonly used as an antihypertensive agent. Because alpha1-adrenergic activity has been associated with fear and startle responses, a drug that blocks central alpha1-adrenergic activity may be useful in the treatment of PTSD symptoms. An outpatient who had been exposed to civilian trauma and had subsequent chronic refractory PTSD was thus prescribed prazosin. The marked reduction in PTSD symptoms, particularly sleep and nightmares, prompted the following open-label feasibility trial. Five outpatients with non-combat-related PTSD were consecutively identified and received prazosin in a 6-week open-label trial. In each case, the prazosin doses were slowly increased until optimal benefit was achieved. Change was assessed with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV, One Week Symptom Version (CAPS-SX), the Clinical Global Impression of Change Scale (CGIC), and the Clinical Impression of Change-Nightmares (CIC-Nightmares) score. All five patients experienced moderate to marked improvement on the CGIC. The CAPS-SX PTSD nightmare and sleep PTSD categories showed at least a four-point reduction of those symptoms. All patients reported at least moderate improvement on the CIC-Nightmare score. Optimal doses of prazosin ranged from 1 to 4 mg/day. The drug was reasonably tolerated, and there were no drug discontinuations. These preliminary findings provide a rationale for blind placebo-controlled efficacy trials of the alpha 1 antagonist prazosin for PTSD.