Fluvoxamine and sleep disturbances in posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

This study assesses the efficacy of fluvoxamine treatment on different domains of subjective sleep quality in Vietnam combat veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Medically healthy male Vietnam theater combat veterans (N = 21) completed a 10-week open label trial. Fluvoxamine treatment led to improvements in PTSD symptoms and all domains of subjective sleep quality. The largest effect was for dreams linked to the traumatic experience in combat. In contrast, generic unpleasant dreams showed only a modest response to treatment. Sleep maintenance insomnia and the item "troubled sleep" showed a large treatment response, whereas sleep onset insomnia improved less substantially. These therapeutic benefits contrast with published reports that have found activating effects of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors on the sleep electroencephalogram.