title: A spiritual-hypnosis assisted treatment of children with PTSD after the 2002 Bali terrorist attack.
abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a spiritual-hypnosis assisted therapy (SHAT) for treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children. All children, age 6-12 years (N=226; 52.7% females), who experienced the terrorist bomb blasts in Bali in 2002, and subsequently were diagnosed with PTSD were studied, through a longitudinal, quasi-experimental (pre-post test), single-blind, randomized control design. Of them, 48 received group SHAT (treatment group), and 178 did not receive any therapy (control group). Statistically significant results showed that SHAT produced a 77.1% improvement rate, at a two-year follow up, compared to 24% in the control group, while at the same time, the mean PTSD symptom score differences were significantly lower in the former group. We conclude that the method of spiritual-hypnosis is highly effective, economic, and easily implemented, and has a potential for therapy of PTSD in other cultures or other catastrophic life-threatening events.
authors.affiliation: University of Sydney, School of Psychology Brennan MacCallum Building (A18), Room 448 Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: C B J
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Lesmana
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Suryani
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Niko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tiliopoulos
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D054042:Bombs; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis / Q000379:methods*; D019018:Imagery, Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods; D007214:Indonesia; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D029181:Spirituality; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D013404:Suggestion; D023481:Terrorism / Q000523:psychology*