Desipramine for PTSD and Alcoholism in Military Veterans

Military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan has made post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans a major public health focus and, given the limitations of existing treatment, has prompted a search for new treatments. Only selective serotonin or norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs or SNRIs) have proven efficacy as single agents, and some studies in veterans have failed to confirm efficacy of single (sertraline) and augmenting (risperidone) agents for PTSD. In this randomized, controlled trial, researchers examined the efficacy of the noradrenergic tricyclic desipramine (200 mg) or paroxetine (40 mg), combined with either naltrexone (50 mg) or placebo, in 88 newly alcohol-abstinent men (81 veterans) with PTSD and alcohol dependence,…