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Landmark Study Highlights Promising PTSD Treatment

WUNC | By Frank Stasio,
Amanda Magnus
Published July 14, 2020 at 12:05 PM EDT
A promising PTSD treatment could help military members who are struggling.
A promising PTSD treatment could help military members who are struggling.

A clinical trial of active-duty military members showed for the first time that a known pain treatment can also be effectively used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Host Frank Stasio talks to behavioral epidemiologist Kristine Rae Olmsted about a new PTSD treatment.

Stellate ganglion block, or SGB, is a treatment that anesthetizes a bundle of nerves in the neck with an injection. SGB has been used for decades to treat pain symptoms, but this landmark study from RTI International demonstrates that the injections can also be used for those with PTSD. The eight-week trial showed a clinically significant reduction in symptoms, although it did not study why the treatment works.

An image showing the bundle of nerves that SGB targets.
Credit Courtesy of Kristine Rae Olmsted
An image showing the bundle of nerves that SGB targets.

Kristine Rae Olmsted, a behavioral epidemiologist at RTI International and one of the study’s primary investigators, shares the details with host Frank Stasio. She covers the history of SGB, talks about the link between pain and PTSD and explores future avenues of study.

Copyright 2020 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.
See stories by Amanda Magnus