Dexamethasone Plus Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for PTSD
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2017-06-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Evidence from preliminary studies suggests that people with PTSD have heightened fear
responses and that cortisol suppression reduces this heightened fear. Research has shown the
drug dexamethasone (DEX), a cortisol suppressor, reduces the startle response in civilians
with PTSD. This current research proposal represents a blinded, randomized,
placebo-controlled efficacy study with the goal of determining whether a drug that suppresses
the stress hormone cortisol will increase the efficacy of exposure therapy. Specifically, it
is proposed that a dose of DEX, given the night before (approximately 10 hours before) each
of 5 to 11 individual virtual reality exposure (VRE) therapy sessions, will significantly
enhance the rate of response and possibly the efficacy of treatment. Participants will be
treated until they have experienced at least a 70% reduction in PTSD symptoms from baseline
or up to 12 sessions or until they and their therapist agree treatment should be terminated,
a minimum of 6 sessions to a maximum of 12 sessions. Comprehensive multi-modal outcomes will
be assessed by independent assessors blind to subject condition on interviews, self-report
measures, and psychophysiological measures. Participants will be assessed pre- and
post-treatment and at a follow-up of 3, 6 and 12 months to assess long term effects.