Journal of Trauma & Treatment

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as an Over Activation of Sympathetic Nervous System: An Alternative View

Abstract

Eugene Lipov

Stress and trauma are a part of the human condition. Trauma that is a catastrophic stressor, being defined as“outside the range of usual human experience” such as war, torture, rape, or natural disaster commonly leads to PTSD. Stressors can be physical, emotional, or a combination of both. Current treatment modalities for treating PTSD include conventional pharmaceuticals together with psychological therapeutics including cognitive processing therapy (CPT), exposure therapy and a number of other approaches. The success rates of combined therapies noted above is dangerously low, considering the acute need for successful treatments. The necessity to change the treatment paradigm from the conversional to more effective approaches cannot be over stated. Fortunately, sympathetic nervous system (SNS) modulation treatments are currently available, and are showing significant
promise in the treatment of PTSD. One recent innovation is stellate ganglion block which is a selective sympathetic injection that can lead to normalization of over active SNS. In the near future, a combination of SNS based therapeutics with current approaches may lead to a marked improvement in the PTSD therapy success rates.