Pharmacotherapy of post-traumatic stress disorder: going beyond the guidelines

SUMMARY This article discusses the study of Harpaz-Rotem and associates, who examined patterns of medication use in first-diagnosed veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It considers the difference between practice guidelines and actual prescribing; selectively identifies issues with antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines and prazosin; and reviews the possible impact of new medications in the pipeline. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS In the past 36 months, J.D. has received compensation for consulting with Edgemont, Turing and Tonix Pharmaceuticals; royalties in connection with publications by Springer, Guilford and McFarland Publishers and use of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Davidson Trauma Scale, Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and Mini-SPIN; service on the INTRuST Data Safety and Monitoring Board, University of California, San Diego. COPYRIGHT AND USAGE © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license.