title: Assessment of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Quality of Life of Patients with Chronic War-related Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the one of the most commonly observed psychiatric disorder in veterans. The condition can lead to considerable social, occupational, and interpersonal dysfunction. PTSD occurring after combat injury appears to be strongly correlated with the extent of injury, and develops over several months. Present study was designed for assessing the cognitive behavioral therapy in the quality of life (QOL) of war-related PTSD in veterans compared to control group and compare applied treatments with each other.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present study, we assessment effects of cognitive behavioral therapy such as problem solving, exposure therapy and their combination on QOL in 120 Iranian PTSD patients veterans after Iran-Iraq war. They were randomly allocated to one of four equal interventional groups: (a) Problem solving therapy (b) exposure therapy (c) combined therapy (exposure therapy plus problem solving) (d) control group. Before and after study intervention, patients were evaluated by short form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Post-test and follow-up SF-36 scores were 55.6±4 and 55.1±3.6 in exposure therapy, 50±4.4 and 56.1±3.8 in problem solving, and 48.73±3.8 and 50.9±4.2 in combined therapy. In comparing to control group, all intervention showed significant improvement in QOL in PTSD patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the results of the present study, behavioral therapy can improve QOL in PTSD patients.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammadjavad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmadizadeh
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Khodabakhsh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Jafar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Anisi
authors.affiliation: Occupational Medicine Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sicences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Bahrami
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
keywords: Exposure therapy; post-traumatic stress disorder; problem solving skills; quality of life; short form-36