Skip to content
Bored Studies
RecruitingAccepts healthy volunteers

Sympathetic Overactivity in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Emory University · with US Department of Veterans Affairs · NCT01627301

View Study & Apply (opens in a new tab)

Opens the official ClinicalTrials.gov record, with the study team’s contacts. Bored Studies doesn’t enroll anyone.

Key facts

Compensation
Not posted. Ask the study team before screening.
Who can join
Ages 18–65 · All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Study type
Interventional · Not applicable
Target enrollment
120
US sites recruiting
1
Study start
July 2012
Record last updated
January 15, 2026

Status re-checked against ClinicalTrials.gov within the last 12 hours.

What the study is about

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a highly prevalent anxiety disorder that is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease and hypertension. One potential mechanism is overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), both at rest and particularly during stress. This study will evaluate whether 8 weeks of daily DGB therapy or transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) therapy improves SNS activity at rest and during stress.

Being studied: Device-Guided Breathing (DGB); Sham DGB; Transcutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation (tVNS); Sham tVNS

Conditions: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder; Prehypertension

Eligibility criteria

Copied from the official record. The study team makes the final decision at screening.

Show full criteria

Inclusion Criteria

  • prehypertensive and normotensive veterans with PTSD, and prehypertensive and normotensive veterans without PTSD (controls)

Exclusion Criteria

  • heart or vascular disease
  • illicit drug use within the last 6 months
  • excessive alcohol use (>2 drinks per day)
  • pregnancy
  • autonomic dysfunction
  • medications known to affect SNS (clonidine)
  • treatment with monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors within the last 14 days
  • any serious systemic disease

Recruiting US locations

Study contacts (from the official record)

  • Deirdre Dixon, MS · 404-321-6111 · deirdre.dixon@emory.edu
  • Jeanie Park, MD · 404-321-6111
All mental health studies in Georgia →
Sympathetic Overactivity in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (NCT01627301) | Bored Studies