Outcome of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in a primary care unit serving Vietnam veterans.
Veterans diagnosed with PTSD (PTSD in-treatment, N = 39), newly admitted to a comprehensive 90-day inpatient treatment program, were tracked at 4-week intervals from admission to discharge. Two control groups were also tracked over 12-week periods--one of previously PTSD diagnosed and treated veterans (PTSD out-of-treatment, N = 26), and a second that combined non-PTSD Vietnam era veterans (N = 17) and non-veterans (N = 16) (non-PTSD nontreatment). As measured by the Penn Inventory for PTSD, 48% of those who completed treatment showed some or substantial gains, 39% showed no gain, and 13% reported some increase in symptoms at the time of discharge. Several patterns were observed on other assessment measures. One year follow-up for those who completed treatment showed a return to pretreatment levels on the PTSD symptom measures employed in this study. These results are discussed in relation to other treatment program outcome studies as a baseline for further research.
Department of American Civilization, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104-3325.
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Hammarberg
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Silver
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D014744:Vietnam