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ARMY TO FUND RESEARCH ON "MEMORY DRUG" THAT MAY
HELP
PTSD VICTIMS -- Psychiatrist warns this may
just be a
way for cash-strapped VA to give vets "a drug"
instead of the therapy they need.
The so-called "memory drug" is
Propranolol.
It is currently being prescribed
"off-label" for some who suffer PTSD. That story here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%20newsflashes%20MAR%2006/newsflash03-13-2006-2.htm
The big problem I see here is that it is
easier for the VA to "medicate 'em and forget 'em" than it is to truly
care for and treat those veterans with PTSD.
Story here...
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=41903
Story below:
---------------
Army to fund research on memory pill that may
help PTSD victims
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army has agreed to fund research to see if a drug
used to treat high blood pressure might be able to lessen the emotional
impact of memories associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.
CBS’ “60 Minutes” first reported Nov. 26 that the Army was looking at
whether the drug Propranolol could be used to treat PTSD.
Researchers hope to recruit several dozen veterans who served in Iraq
and Afghanistan from the greater Boston area for the study, said
psychologist Dr. Scott P. Orr, who will help conduct the research.
The study will look at whether Propranolol can reduce veterans’
emotional responses to certain memories by cutting down on the
accompanying surge of adrenaline, said Orr, who works at the Department
of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Manchester, N.H.
In initial tests, people given the drug were observed to have reduced
physiological responses, such as heart rates, to certain memories, said
Orr, who is also part of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical
School and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Orr stressed that the drug would not erase veterans’ memories. “It isn’t
that the memory’s being changed — the memory is still there,” he said.
“It’s that the emotional response that is attached to the memory is
being reduced.”
But Dr. Judith Broder, a Los Angeles-based psychiatrist who is the
founder of a nonprofit organization that provides free mental health
services to veterans, said she has some reservations.
“I worry about several things,” Broder said in a Friday e-mail to Stars
and Stripes. “First, I believe our soldiers often feel dehumanized by
their time in the service. To then ‘treat’ them with a drug that
potentially ‘numbs’ them, may further alienate them.”
She also said she fears that the VA, underfunded and facing an
increasing number of veterans returning with PTSD, might resort to
“cost-effective” solutions, such as giving veterans with PTSD a pill
rather than the therapy they need.
“Another issue of concern is that of ‘informed consent,’” she said.
“Soldiers are used to following orders. These soldiers are now suffering
from a disorder and of course want relief from their suffering. Is it
really possible to give informed consent to an experimental procedure
under these conditions?”
Orr said in response that the research is not intended to see if
Propranolol can produce “emotional numbing.”
“If anything, what it does is it reduces the intensity of the emotion
such that the emotional reaction may become more manageable for the
person,” he said.
“It is not a replacement for psychotherapy — rather, it becomes an
adjunct; it becomes a useful tool for psychotherapy,” Orr said.
As for the issue of informed consent, Orr said researchers “generally
bend over backwards” to give people participating in research all the
information they need on the potential risks and benefits they would
face.
Orr said the upcoming research will be headed by one of his colleagues,
Dr. Roger Pittman at Harvard University.
The Army and Pittman are still negotiating how much his grant will be
and how the study will unfold, said Chuck Dasey, a spokesman for Army
Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Md. Pittman could
be awarded up to $625,000 a year for four years to conduct the research,
Dasey said.
----------------
Larry Scott
