A field test of group based exposure therapy with 102 veterans with war-related posttraumatic stress disorder.

Full Abstract

Group-based exposure therapy (GBET) was field-tested with 102 veterans with war-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Nine to 11 patients attended 3 hours of group therapy per day twice weekly for 16-18 weeks. Stress management and a minimum of 60 hours of exposure was included (3 hours of within-group war-trauma presentations per patient, 30 hours of listening to recordings of patient's own war-trauma presentations and 27 hours of hearing other patients' war-trauma presentations). Analysis of assessments conducted by treating clinicians pre-, post- and 6-month posttreatment suggests that GBET produced clinically significant and lasting reductions in PTSD symptoms for most patients on both clinician symptoms ratings (6-month posttreatment effect size delta = 1.22) and self-report measures with only three dropouts.

Author information

Author/s: Ready, David J (DJ); Thomas, Kaprice R (KR); Worley, Virginia (V); Backscheider, Andrea G (AG); Harvey, Leigh Anne C (LA); Baltzell, David (D); Rothbaum, Barbara Olasov (BO);

Affiliation: Mental Health Service Line, VA Medical Center-Atlanta, Decatur, GA 30033, USA. David.Ready(-atsign-)va.gov

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of traumatic stress (J Trauma Stress), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Apr; vol 21 (issue 2) : pp 150-7

Dates: Created 2008/04/17; Completed 2008/08/08;

PMID: 18404634, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 2/18/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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