Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been introduced in 1980. The diagnosis, as construct raises several political, moral, legal, and compensation issues. PTSD is considered as a multisystemic dysregulation, involving the hypothalamic- pituitary - adrenal axis, adrenergic hypersensibility, and serotonergic dysfunction. The prevalence of PTSD is 1-9% in the general population, but substantially higher among victims of traumatic events: 19-70%. Placebo controlled studies provide a body of evidence concerning efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the treatment of PTSD both in the acute and maintenance treatments. Studies with balanced male-female ratio suggest no gender-related differences in the clinical response, furthermore both civilians and veterans improved significantly for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment.