Sedatives still used for PTSD treatment despite warnings

Sedatives still used for PTSD treatment despite warnings
By Wyatt Olson
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 8, 2013

Department of Veterans Affairs doctors are continuing to prescribe tranquilizers such as Valium and Xanax to veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder — despite VA guidelines advising against their use for the condition.

Almost a third of veterans being treated for PTSD are prescribed benzodiazepines, a class of sedatives commonly used to treat insomnia, anxiety, seizures and other conditions, according Dr. Nancy Bernardy, a clinical psychologist with the VA’s National Center for PTSD.

Benzodiazepine prescriptions by VA doctors for PTSD patients declined from 37 percent to 30 percent between 1999 and 2009, Bernardy and fellow researchers found in an earlier study. But it remained at 30 percent through 2012, Bernardy said, citing data that will be published soon.

The current clinical practice guidelines for managing PTSD, co-authored by the VA and Department of Defense, caution medical providers against using benzodiazepines “due to lack of efficacy data and growing evidence for the potential risk of harm,” Bernardy wrote in the PTSD center’s current newsletter.
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