New tests to treat post-trauma stress

RESEARCHERS in Toulouse are testing the use of a new drug on soldiers that could help tackle post-traumatic stress disorder.

Pascal Roullet, a researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), discovered that propanolol could be used to suppress certain bad memories.

Tests began in January. Mr Roullet said: "The study has only just begun and we will need about a year and a half to be certain it is effective."

Post-traumatic stress is an anxiety disorder frequently found in soldiers, which develops after they have been exposed to a traumatic event in combat.