Women Who Are Victims of Violence: Treatment of PTSD Through Reactivation of Traumatic Memories Using Propranolol

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops following exposure to a life-threatening event. Being a victim of domestic physical violence and/or sexual assaults is among the highest risk factors for developing PTSD (Darves-Bornoz et al., 2008). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends trauma-focused psychotherapy (such as PE) as the most effective treatment for PTSD. However, these treatments can be costly and difficult to access. Recently, PTSD treatment involving traumatic memory reactivation procedure combined with Propranolol - a widely used beta-blocker - has demonstrated both safety and efficacy. Given that PTSD is characterized by emotional hypermnesia of the traumatic memory, this approach aims to reduce PTSD symptoms severity by attenuating the emotional charge associated with the traumatic memory. The primary objective of our study is to compare the efficacy of Propranolol with Prolonged Exposure/PE in women who have experienced violence and suffer from severe PTSD. In the propranolol group, for the first session, ninety minutes after propranolol ingestion, participants write a one-page trauma narrative script focusing on the event's most disturbing moments. The five following sessions consist of lecture of the traumatic script after ingestion of propranolol. In the psychotherapy group, PE is standardly realized during eight to ten sessions. A follow-up session is scheduled three months after the treatment for both groups.