Home » Newsletters » The Carlat Psychiatry Report

The Carlat Psychiatry Report

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (April) | 2004

View Archived Issues

Using SSRIs For PTSD

April 1, 2004

Laura Wolfe, M.D., is an adult psychiatrist who works for Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara, California. Her experience treating a man with PTSD is helpful in understanding the role of SSRIs. Read More

Off-Label Nostrums for PTSD

April 1, 2004

Daniel Carlat, MD

Let's face it, when our patients are in distress, we use whatever meds we think might be helpful, whether the FDA has given its blessing or not. Not a single one of the nostrums discussed in this article is FDA-approved for PTSD, but they are all commonly used when nothing else works. Read More

Therapy for PTSD: What You Should Know

April 1, 2004

Daniel Carlat, MD

As you can see from this issue's lead article, SSRIs help alleviate core PTSD symptoms, but hardly roar by the placebo response rate in clinical trials. And anytime the placebo effect is this robust, you can predict that psychotherapy will be very effective. This is certainly true in the world of PTSD. Read More

Edna Foa, Ph.D., On Therapy for PTSD

April 1, 2004

Edna Foa, Ph.D.

TCR: Dr. Foa, how common is PTSD? Dr. Foa: The epidemiological studies tell us that 60% of men in the United States and over 50% of women have been traumatized at least once in their lifetime. Read More

SSRIs for PTSD: Just How Effective Are They?

April 1, 2004

Daniel Carlat, MD

Strangely enough, there are only two medications FDA-approved for PTSD--Zoloft (sertraline) and Paxil (paroxetine). This is despite the fact that PTSD is a common problem, with a lifetime prevalence of between 5 and 10%, and can be extremely debilitating. Read More