Tension drug eases PTSD

A widely used hypertension drug improves sleep and reduces traumatic nightmares in veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to federal researchers.

“This is the first drug that has been demonstrated effective for PTSD nightmares and sleep disruption,” said Dr. Murray A. Raskind of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, who led the study.

“These nightmares are heavily troublesome to veterans,” he said. He estimated that as many as half of the 10 million U.S. veterans and civilians with PTSD had nightmares that could be helped by the drug.

At least 5,000 veterans in the VA system in the Northwest U.S. are receiving the generic drug, called prazosin, he said.