Morphine Reduces PTSD Risk In Wounded Soldiers

Boston (DbTechNo) - The pain drug morphine has been shown to reduce the risk of post traumatic stress disorder in soldiers post combat.

Morphine is an injectable painkiller, and is one of the most effective drugs on the market for easing pain.

The study was performed on 696 soldiers wounded during the war in Iraq.

The study found that wounded soldiers who were given morphine injections within 1 hour of being wounded, were less likely to develop PTSD, but that the injections were not a guarantee that soldiers would not develop the condition.

PTSD is characterized by flashbacks, emotional breakdowns and other mental problems directly caused by observing traumatic events in one’s life.

“We are not sure if the effect is from pain reduction or from an effect morphine has on memory consolidation in the brain immediately after a traumatic
event. Or it may be both working together,” Troy Lisa Holbrook of the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego told Reuters.

“We need more research to tease those out and find out which one it is,” she added.

The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.