Paulo R. Shiroma, MD; Paul Thuras, PhD; Joseph Wels, MD; Christopher Erbes, PhD; Shannon Kehle-Forbes, PhD; and Melissa Polusny, PhD
Published 10 November 2020 | https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.20l13406
Abstract
Prolonged exposure (PE) is a gold-standard trauma-focused therapy; however, clinical trials of trauma-based therapies in the military and veteran populations showed that up to 50% of participants failed to attain clinically meaningful symptom improvement. Emerging research indicates that PE efficacy may be improved by the use of adjunctive medications. The efficacy of single and repeated ketamine administration in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) seems comparable with that in depression. Below, we present pilot data on the feasibility of combining standardized PE therapy with repeated ketamine administration in PTSD.
Keywords: ketamine, PTSD, veterans, prolonged exposure
