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The N-methyl-D-aspartate partial agonist D-cycloserine facilitates learning and extinction in animal models of fear and assists exposure therapy in humans with specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and, recently, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; NEJM JW Psychiatry Jul 23 2012). This important, but pilot, randomized study involved 25 patients with PTSD following the World Trade Center attacks. Participants took D-cycloserine (100 mg) or placebo 90 minutes before 12 weekly virtual-reality exposure sessions.
Reductions in PTSD symptoms with D-cycloserine were associated with a medium effect size at 3 months, although group differences were not statistically significant (perhaps due to small sample size); at 6 months, ho…