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Fluvoxamine and sleep disturbances in posttraumatic stress disorder
Author(s) -
Neylan Thomas C.,
Metzler Thomas J.,
Schoenfeld Frank B.,
Weiss Daniel S.,
Lenoci Maryann,
Best Suzanne R.,
Lipsey Tami L.,
Marmar Charles R.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1023/a:1011100420978
Subject(s) - fluvoxamine , insomnia , sleep (system call) , psychology , reuptake inhibitor , posttraumatic stress , psychiatry , nightmare , anxiety disorder , sleep disorder , clinical psychology , medicine , antidepressant , serotonin , fluoxetine , anxiety , receptor , computer science , operating system
This study assesses the efficacy of fluvoxamine treatment on different domains of subjective sleep quality in Vietnam combat veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Medically healthy male Vietnam theater combat veterans ( N = 21) completed a 10‐week open label trial. Fluvoxamine treatment led to improvements in PTSD symptoms and all domains of subjective sleep quality. The largest effect was for dreams linked to the traumatic experience in combat. In contrast, generic unpleasant dreams showed only a modest response to treatment. Sleep maintenance insomnia and the item “troubled sleep” showed a large treatment response, whereas sleep onset insomnia improved less substantially. These therapeutic benefits contrast with published reports that have found activating effects of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors on the sleep electroencephalogram.