title: A multidimensional meta-analysis of psychotherapy for PTSD.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors present a multidimensional meta-analysis of studies published between 1980 and 2003 on psychotherapy for PTSD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data on variables not previously meta-analyzed such as inclusion and exclusion criteria and rates, recovery and improvement rates, and follow-up data were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results suggest that psychotherapy for PTSD leads to a large initial improvement from baseline. More than half of patients who complete treatment with various forms of cognitive behavior therapy or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing improve. Reporting of metrics other than effect size provides a somewhat more nuanced account of outcome and generalizability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of patients treated with psychotherapy for PTSD in randomized trials recover or improve, rendering these approaches some of the most effective psychosocial treatments devised to date. Several caveats, however, are important in applying these findings to patients treated in the community. Exclusion criteria and failure to address polysymptomatic presentations render generalizability to the population of PTSD patients indeterminate. The majority of patients posttreatment continue to have substantial residual symptoms, and follow-up data beyond very brief intervals have been largely absent. Future research intended to generalize to patients in practice should avoid exclusion criteria other than those a sensible clinician would impose in practice (e.g., schizophrenia), should avoid wait-list and other relatively inert control conditions, and should follow patients through at least 2 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. rbradl2@emory.edu
authors.forename: Rebekah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Jamelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Russ
authors.forename: Lissa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dutra
authors.forename: Drew
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Westen
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy; D018849:Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief; D012064:Relaxation Therapy; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome