Treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder in children using cognitive behavioural writing therapy.
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Writing Therapy (CBWT) in 23 children (age 8-18 years) in the Netherlands, who experienced a range of single and recurrent traumatic experiences. CBWT uses exposure, cognitive restructuring and social sharing.


METHODS
At pre-test, post-test and follow-up, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depressive symptoms, trauma-related cognitions and general behavioural problems were assessed.


RESULTS
At post-test there was a significant reduction of all symptoms, and this effect was maintained at 6 months follow-up. The mean amount of treatment sessions needed was 5.5.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that short-term CBWT is a potentially effective intervention for clinically referred traumatized children. There is now a clear need of establishing the effectiveness of CBWT in a randomized, controlled trial.


CONCLUSIONS
This first study indicates CBWT is a promising treatment, which can easily be used in clinical practice.
Van der Oord
Saskia
S
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. s.vanderoord@uva.nl
Lucassen
S
S
Van Emmerik
A A P
AA
Emmelkamp
P M G
PM
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods; D007600:Judgment; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D009426:Netherlands; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D014956:Writing