The connection between stress and blood pressure seems like common sense. Of course experiencing stress — like a narrow miss in morning traffic or dealing with a stubborn, whiny child — raises someone’s blood pressure.

Try reversing the cause-and-effect relationship: not from brain to body, but instead from body to brain. Could medication for controlling blood pressure moderate the effects of severe stress, and thus aid in controlling PTSD symptoms or in preventing the development of PTSD after trauma?

That was the intriguing implication arising from a 2012 paper from Grady Trauma Project investigators led by psychiatrist Kerry Ressler (lab at Yerkes, supported by HHMI).

They had found that traumatized civilians who take either of two classes of common blood pressure medications tend to have less severe post-traumatic stress symptoms. In particular, individuals taking ACE inhibitors (angiotensin converting enzyme) or ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers) tended to have lower levels of hyperarousal and intrusive thoughts, and this effect was not observed with other blood pressure medications.

This was one of those observational findings that needs to be tested in an active way: “OK, people who are already taking more X experience less severe symptoms. But can we actually use X as an intervention?”

In mice, it seems to work. Read more