Future research examining the effects of early life adversity on processes of reconsolidation should therefore be carried out in both animal and human studies. In the ideal case, altering the impact of the traumatic

memory by reconsolidation blockade would result in restoring a patient’s quality of life. However, other affective and social cognitive disturbances can remain, even after successful Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical treatment of core PTSD symptoms. A model proposing a social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience approach to PTSD which stresses the importance of Trametinib price assessing and treating not only PTSD symptoms, including traumatic memories per se, but also dysfunction in the domains of emotion regulation and interpersonal functioning, has been described.66 In this regard, it is interesting to note that negative affect regulation and interpersonal problems accounted for a greater percentage of variance in functional outcomes than did PTSD symptoms in a sample of women with histories of childhood abuse.67 In addition, cognitive deficits, including Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical problems with executive functioning, and processing speed, as well as learning and memory, have been associated with PTSD.68,69 Future studies examining the effects of reconsolidation blockade in PTSD should therefore consider taking

a broader assessment of outcome, including impairments in cognition, emotion regulation, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and social cognition. The residual distance to normal reintroduction to society could be treated by CBT focusing on these additional domains. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Can propranolol change the course of PTSD when it targets consolidation of the traumatic experience? The effects of propranolol have been examined in patients with a history of both acute traumatic experiences and chronic PTSD. With regard to acute traumatic experiences, in the first

study examining the effects of propranolol following an acute traumatic event, Pitman and colleagues70 recruited 41 patients who exhibited a pulse rate of ≥ 80 beats per minute from an emergency Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical room (ER). Patients were randomized to receive either 40 mg of propranolol or placebo, first administered within 6 hours following the traumatic event during the putative time during which the memory is consolidated, and then for 10 days followed by tapering of the drug over 9 days. Results showed that 1 month following the traumatic event, individuals who had received propranolol exhibited a statistically nonsignificant trend towards lower Clinician Administered Sitaxentan PTSD Scale (CAPS) scores and reduced physiologic responding as compared with the placebo group. A nonrandomized control study by Vaiva and colleagues71 examined 19 acute trauma patients with a pulse rate of ≥ 90 beats per minute recruited from an ER. Individuals were offered 40 mg of propranolol three times per day for 7 days, and PTSD symptomatology was compared in eight patients who agreed to take propranolol with 11 patients who declined the drug.