The Effects Of Post Traumatic Stress On Brain Functioning

Hypothesis and Aims The aim of this study is to assess the effects of post-traumatic stress on brain functioning, in particular executive functioning and information processing of children and adolescents. This study also aims to evaluate prazosin as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents. Specifically, the study focuses on the treatment of sleep disturbances such as insomnia, nightmares and altered sleep schedules. The hypotheses of this study is that the subjects with PTSD will perform weaker in the tasks given compared to healthy subjects, and that prazosin will improve their sleep cycles and overall conditions. Background Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition in which an individual†¦show more content†¦In normal brain functioning and NE levels, alpha-2 receptors are strongly stimulated and PFC performance is enhanced, whilst amygdala function is reduced. By blocking alpha-1 receptors or stimulating alpha-2 receptors, stress symptoms can be relieved. Because of this, alpha-1 receptor antagonists and alpha-2 receptor stimulants have been explored for the treatment of PTSD. A successful alpha-1 receptor antagonist that has been used in various studies of PTSD treatment in adults is prazosin. Several studies have shown that prazosin significantly reduces symptoms of PTSD in adults, nightmares and sleep disturbance in particular, and improved the overall wellbeing of patients (5-10). There have been no trials for the effects of prazosin on children and young adolescents. However there are a few case reports of the successful treatment of PTSD symptoms on young individuals as an adjunctive treatment or alone, and with comorbid conditions (11-15). These cases involved a seven year old child (14), two fifteen year olds (11,15) and three sixteen year olds (12,13,15). These cases all involved patients with sleep difficulties and insomnia due to nightmares and avoidance behaviours. Some patients underwent psychotherapy treatments which ultimately failed to alleviate their symptoms, and so prazosin was prescribed. Others had very severe conditions, some of which subsided following psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, but still possessed