Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder can develop after individual's exposure or witnessing of life threatening events. It is characterized by three clusters of symptoms. The course of PTSD is often chronic and impedes individual's functioning. Studies of PTSD treatment with paroxetine provide evidence for its efficacy in reducing symptoms and its favorable profile of side-effects. The objective of this work was to determine the efficacy of paroxetine in the treatment of PTSD. The sample consisted of 30 subjects with chronic PTSD. All subjects received treatment with paroxetine in therapeutic dose range for six months. Subjects were assessed prior to therapy and following six months of treatment with paroxetine with the use of following instruments: SCL 90-R, Mississippi Questionnaire, and CGI. The results indicate statistically significant reduction on all subscales of SCL 90-R following six months of treatment, P<0,05. The difference between two assessments with Mississippi Questionnaire was statistically significant, P< 0,05. PTSD rate in our sample was reduced from 100% before treatment to 64% after treatment. Paroxetine was administered in daily dose of 20 mg in 88% of the subjects, and 40 mg in the remaining 12%. Unwanted effects were registered in 16,7% of the subjects and they were mild. Objective improvement was registered in 84% of the sample, and subjective improvement was registered in 80%. Reduction of relapse symptoms was registered in 24% of the subjects. Paroxetine proved to be efficient and safe in treatment of symptoms of PTSD in this study.
Highlights
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that can develop subsequent to individual’s exposure or witnessing of life-threatening events, such as combat experience, natural disasters, serious accidents, terrorist attacks or interpersonal violence (, )
The sample in this study consisted of adult subjects who have been diagnosed with chronic PTSD
The results obtained on SCL -R Scale show statistically significant reduction in symptoms on all subscales after six months of treatment with paroxetine, p
Summary
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that can develop subsequent to individual’s exposure or witnessing of life-threatening events, such as combat experience, natural disasters, serious accidents, terrorist attacks or interpersonal violence ( , ) Individuals suffering from this disorder frequently develop symptoms such as: reliving the traumatic event, difficulty falling and staying asleep, frequent nightmares with the content of traumatic events that are subjectively so distressing and cause the individual to wake up with a startle and experience signs of significant autonomous system arousal such as profuse sweating and palpitations. In situations where individuals and groups of people survived exposure to prolonged and repetitive catastrophic stress events that has lasted for months and years, the situation changes substantially This has led to a debate among the leading PTSD researchers about the need for introduction of a new diagnosis, new nosologic entity that will better address and describe the symptoms of long-term traumatization ( )
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
