STUDY ON POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER IN CHILDREN UNDER WAY

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Physicians and researchers in the Department of Psychiatry at UC Davis Medical Center are seeking participants for a research study on posttraumatic stress disorder in children.

Physicians are investigating the effectiveness of an investigational medication to treat children and adolescents who have posttraumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder triggered by memories of a traumatic event.

The disorder commonly affects survivors of traumatic events, such as a natural disaster, death, war, physical or sexual abuse, fire or other serious accidents. It produces a variety of symptoms, including troubling memories of the event, emotional numbness, difficulty falling or staying asleep, irritability, outbursts of anger, nightmares of the event, and jumpiness or excessive worry.

Children who have these symptoms and are between 6 and 17 years of age may be eligible to participate in the three-month study.

For more information about this study, call the 24-hour research study message line at (916) 734-7732. All participation procedures are at no cost to those who qualify. Robert Hendren, executive director of the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, and professor and chief of child psychiatry at UC Davis Medical Center, is the principal investigator of the study. Norman Brulé is the study coordinator.