Fluvoxamine and sleep disturbances in posttraumatic stress disorder.
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.
Neylan
T C
TC
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco 94121, USA. neylan@itsa.ucsf.edu
Metzler
T J
TJ
Schoenfeld
F B
FB
Weiss
D S
DS
Lenoci
M
M
Best
S R
SR
Lipsey
T L
TL
Marmar
C R
CR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016666:Fluvoxamine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D016666:Fluvoxamine; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors