A field test of group based exposure therapy with 102 veterans with war-related posttraumatic stress disorder.
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.
Ready
David J
DJ
Mental Health Service Line, VA Medical Center-Atlanta, Decatur, GA 30033, USA. David.Ready@va.gov
Thomas
Kaprice R
KR
Worley
Virginia
V
Backscheider
Andrea G
AG
Harvey
Leigh Anne C
LA
Baltzell
David
D
Rothbaum
Barbara Olasov
BO
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D015897:Comorbidity; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008370:Manuals as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data