100% REMISSION: Study Gives Exciting News For Anyone Suffering From PTSD
Small sample size and all that, but fantastic news if it pans out
With 131 veterans taking their lives each day, we’ll take any good news on PTSD that we can get. And short of a cure being declared, this is about as good as news gets.
It’s a simple intervention, coupled with treatment already in use that is showing some jaw-droppingly good initial results.
As you may already know, one of the problems with PTSD is that it responds very poorly to traditional treatments. So The University of Texas at Dallas and Baylor University Medical Center ran a test pairing regular therapy methods with the stimulation of the vagus nerve (VNS).
The body has different networks of nerves that work in tandem to regulate our various states of calm or readiness, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic systems. Sympathetic gives us fight-or-flight responses, among other things, and the parasympathetic mainly regulates rest and digestion. A key component of the parasympathetic system is the vagus nerve (it’s a pair of nerves, actually), which are your longest cranial nerve
What’s so exciting about this study?
Key Facts:
100% Remission: All participants were free from PTSD diagnosis six months after therapy paired with VNS.
Neuroplasticity Boost: VNS enhances brain rewiring, improving outcomes for therapy-resistant PTSD patients.
Next Steps: A double-blind Phase 2 trial is underway to confirm findings and move toward FDA approval.
Source: UT Dallas
In a first-of-its-kind clinical study, scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas and Baylor University Medical Center showed that patients with treatment-resistant PTSD were symptom-free up to six months after completing traditional therapy paired with vagus nerve stimulation (VNS).
The results of the nine-patient Phase 1 trial, conducted by scientists from UT Dallas’ Texas Biomedical Device Center (TxBDC) in collaboration with researchers from the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute (BSWRI), were published online March 15 in Brain Stimulation.
A simple electrical device sending a signal to a nerve and a few therapy sessions can be enough to beat PTSD?
How amazing is that? Think of the implications and how many people could have their lives back!