Written exposure therapy for PTSD -- A short but effective treatment approach

First-line psychotherapeutic treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be effective, but these typically require a large time commitment from clients and often involve homework outside of therapy sessions. Recently, a group of American researchers compared a newer, trauma-focused treatment approach, called written exposure therapy (WET), to a conventional PTSD treatment called cognitive processing therapy (CPT). WET can be completed in less than half the time as CPT and does not require homework to be completed between sessions.

The researchers found that both treatment approaches resulted in significant improvement in symptoms from the first session across 36 weeks. Even though WET took about half as long to complete, symptom improvements were sustained throughout the study period. Interestingly, WET was associated with a much lower drop out rate (6.3% vs. 39.7% in the CPT group), suggesting it may be a less burdensome approach to treatment for some individuals.

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- Jeff