Prolonged Exposure and Oxytocin

Summary

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic, debilitating anxiety disorder that may develop after direct or indirect exposure to traumatic events. Prolonged Exposure (PE) is a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy modality with a wealth of empirical support demonstrating its efficacy to treat PTSD in a variety of populations. The neuropeptide oxytocin is a promising new pharmacotherapeutic agent with prominent anxiolytic effects . Despite a strong biological and theoretical rationale for investigating the potential effectiveness of augmenting PE with intranasal oxytocin, no studies to date have done so. The current study aims to address this important gap in the literature by examining changes in PTSD symptoms following PE treatment combined with a) 40 IU of intranasal oxytocin or b) placebo.

Timeline

Start

2015-01-01

Primary completion

2016-12-31

Completion

2016-12-31

Publications

• Flanagan JC, Sippel LM, Wahlquist A, Moran-Santa Maria MM, Back SE. Augmenting Prolonged Exposure therapy for PTSD with intranasal oxytocin: A randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial. J Psychiatr Res. 2018 Mar;98:64-69. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.12.014. Epub 2017 Dec 26.

Drugs

Indications