Olanzapine treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder: an open-label study

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common and increasingly diagnose d mental illness. Recent pharmacotherapeutic research on treatments for thi s condition has focused on antidepressant drugs with serotonergic actions. However, the presence of intrusive, psychotic-like symptoms in a substantia l portion of PTSD patients raises the possibility that antipsychotics with serotonergic properties might also prove useful in treating PTSD. We conduc ted an open-label 8-week study of olanzapine treatment in veterans with com bat-induced PTSD. Primary outcome measures in this study were the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and the Clinical Global Impressions Improve ment scale. Secondary outcome measures included the Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression (HRSD) and Anxiety (HRSA). Forty-eight patients enrolled in the study, and 30 completed the 8-week trial. Results of intent-to-treat an d completer analyses demonstrated that all outcome measures improved signif icantly during treatment. Secondary analyses indicate that improvement in t he intrusive symptom cluster of the CAPS was independent of improvement on the HRSD and HRSA. In conclusion, the study indicates that olanzapine treat ment is useful in alleviating the symptoms of combat-induced PTSD. (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.