Conditions: Posttraumatic Stress Disorders
Keywords: Post-traumatic stress disorder sleep disturbance insomnia cytokines anxiety traumatic event memory
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 81
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine if eszopiclone relative to placebo (sugar pill) is effective and tolerable for people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related sleep disturbance. The investigators will also examine the impact of treatment on sleep patterns, memory recall bias, and level of inflammatory markers (cytokines). The investigators predict eszopiclone will lead to greater improvement than placebo in measures of PTSD symptoms, memory recall bias, and level of inflammatory markers.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: The total study duration is 16 weeks, with subjects taking 3mg eszopiclone at bedtime for 12 weeks. There is one follow-up visit after the 12 week treatment phase. arm 2: The total study duration is 16 weeks, with subjects taking placebo at bedtime for 12 weeks. There is one follow-up visit after the 12 week treatment phase.

Interventions: intervention 1: Eszopiclone intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Eszopiclone has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of insomnia (inability to sleep). Eszopiclone has not been specifically approved by the FDA for people who have PTSD-related sleep disturbance. intervention 2: The placebo used in this study looks exactly like eszopiclone but contains no active ingredients.

Protocol document: