These data support the efficacy of prazosin for nightmares, sleep disturbance, and other PTSD symptoms.

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Smoking-cessation interventions can be safely incorporated into routine mental health care for PTSD and are more effective than treatment delivered separately by a specialized smoking-cessation clinic. Integrating cessation treatment into psychiatric care may have the potential for improving smoking quit rates in other populations of chronically mentally ill smokers.

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Studies in a number of cortical systems have shown that the NMDA component of the EPSP is strongly regulated by GABAA-mediated inhibition. The present study explored the possibility that specificity in inhibitory circuitry could allow such regulation to occur during normal function without increasing the propensity for epileptiform bursting, which occurs with indiscriminate GABAA blockade. Specifically, the hypothesis was tested that a dendritic GABAA-mediated IPSP is present which strongly modulates the NMDA component and can be activated independently of the somatic IPSP. The experiments were performed on slices of piriform cortex in which the NMDA component of the EPSP was pharmacologically isolated by bath-applied 6,7-dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione. A facilitation of NMDA responses to burst stimulation of afferent fibers is described, which required GABAA blockade and served as an assay for the presence of a functionally significant GABAA input. When bicuculline was applied focally in the somatic region, the feedback IPSP was blocked with little or no increase in the NMDA component of the response to burst stimulation of afferent fibers. In contrast, when bicuculline was applied focally in the dendritic region, the NMDA-mediated response to burst stimulation was facilitated with minimal effect on the somatic IPSP, confirming the hypothesis.

The integration of tobacco cessation treatment into mental health care for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), known as Integrated Care (IC), was evaluated in an uncontrolled feasibility and effectiveness study. Veterans (N = 107) in PTSD treatment at two outpatient clinics received IC delivered by mental health practitioners. Outcomes were seven-day point prevalence abstinence measured at two, four, six, and nine months post-enrollment and repeated seven-day point prevalence abstinence (RPPA) obtained across three consecutive assessment intervals (four, six, and nine months). Abstinence rates at the four assessment intervals were 28%, 23%, 25%, and 18%, respectively, and RPPA was 15%. The number of IC sessions and a previous quit history greater than six months predicted RPPA. Stopping smoking was not associated with worsening PTSD or depression.