Written Exposure Therapy May Be Viable Treatment for PTSD

Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who participated in written exposure therapy experienced similar improvements as those in a more intensive, prolonged exposure therapy, according to astudy published this week inJAMA Psychiatry. Veterans in the written exposure therapy group were also less likely to drop out of the therapy.While there are several evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD, such as prolonged exposure therapy, these therapies can be time intensive and many patients drop out before completing them, wrote Denise Sloan, Ph.D., of the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and colleagues. “Written exposure therapy is emerging as an alternative, efficacious brief intervention for PTSD that requires less time and fewer resources,” the authors continued.Sloan and colleagues recruited veterans who were seeking treatment for PTSD from three Veterans Affairs medical centers across the country. Participants were randomized to receive either weekly sessions of written exposure therapy or prolonged exposure therapy. The severity of their PTSD symptoms was assessed using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale forDSM-5 (CAPS-5), with 0 indicating no PTSD symptoms and 80 indicating severe symptoms. Assessments occurred before treatment and at 10, 20, and 30 weeks after the first treatment session. All therapists had doctorate degrees in clinical psychology.Written exposure therapy treatment included five sessions in which individuals were instructed to writ...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: CAPS-5 exposure therapy JAMA Psychiatry posttraumatic stress disorder prolonged exposure therapy PTSD veterans writing written exposure therapy Source Type: research