Customer Reviews

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Basic Science and Clinical Practice

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This is a scholarly assessment of the current research on PTSD and 3 clinical treatments for this anxiety disorder.

The book begins with articles on the current scientific understanding of the physiology of PTSD: The role of the amygdala and fear, animal models of PTSD, and how PTSD affects the body. Included is information on the coerulus-noradrenegric system and stress, the effect of stress on sleep and its relationship to PTSD, role of stress hormones, and low basal cortisol and the startle reflex. Two articles on brain imaging and PTSD are included.

Three treatment strategies are discussed: Pharmacologic treatment, guided imagery, and virtual reality exposure therapy. Missing is cognitive processing therapy.

This book is a valuable resource providing a wide variety of articles on our current understanding of PTSD.

This title does an excellent job of advancing a better understanding of the clinical and biological issues surrounding PTSD. In addition, it is especially important for professionals in Sleep Medicine. Providing a lengthy and very positive review, the Journal of Sleep and Sleep Disorders Research says the following as a summary point in Volume 32, Number 12 (December 1, 2009): "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder should be seen as a landmark in the joining of the PTSD and sleep fields."