The present study seeks to investigate the potential to pharmacologically modulate slow-wave sleep in the acute aftermath of an experimentally-induced trauma in the interest of developing a secondary prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder. The effects of a GABAergic compound will be compared with that of a noradrenergic compound. Memory, sleep and stress-related immune response factors will be quantified and compared across drug conditions.
In this study, we investigate the role that deep sleep plays in the prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder after someone has been exposed to a trauma by boosting deep sleep with two drug conditions compared to placebo condition. Each volunteer in the study goes through all three conditions. The quantity of intrusive memories of the trauma will be compared between the three conditions.