JERUSALEM, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have developed a special oxygen treatment for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Tel Aviv University (TAU) said in a statement on Sunday.
PTSD can develop after a life-threatening event, affecting about 20 percent of survivors and causing significant dysfunction in social, family, and work life, with symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, hypervigilance, and avoidance.
Often resistant to treatment, PTSD may involve changes in brain structure, indicating a "biological wound."
In a new joint study by TAU and the Shamir Medical Center in central Israel, published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the researchers demonstrated that a new protocol based on hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) improves the condition of PTSD sufferers who have not responded to psychotherapy or psychiatric medications.
In HBOT, patients are placed in special chambers with higher atmospheric pressure than at sea level and breathe 100 percent pure oxygen.
In the study, some of the participants received HBOT treatment, while the others received a placebo, breathing regular air.
In the HBOT treatment group, each patient underwent 60 two-hour sessions in a hyperbaric chamber, during which they would remove the oxygen mask every 20 minutes and breathe regular air for five minutes.
The results showed that the group receiving hyperbaric therapy exhibited improved connectivity in brain networks and a decline in all typical PTSD symptoms, while no changes were observed in the placebo group.
The researchers explained that this treatment addresses the brain's "wound" and effectively reduces typical symptoms, adding that the oxygen level drop during treatments activates healing processes, enhancing the therapeutic effect.
"The new treatment can bring relief to numerous PTSD sufferers worldwide, allowing them to resume a normal life in their community and family," the researchers concluded.
