By Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay)
THURSDAY, Jan. 5, 2023 (HealthDay News) — A brief but intensive approach to “talk therapy” might help many combat veterans overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a latest clinical trial has found.
The study tested “compressed” formats of a normal PTSD treatment called prolonged exposure therapy, during which patients learn to regularly face the trauma-related memories they normally avoid.
Traditionally, that has meant therapy once every week, over the course of just a few months.
But while prolonged exposure therapy is usually effective for PTSD, there may be room for improvement, in response to Alan Peterson, a professor of psychiatry on the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
On the whole, he said, prolonged exposure (PE) therapy doesn’t work as well for combat veterans because it does for civilians with PTSD. In an earlier trial, Peterson and his colleagues found that about 60% of combat vets still met the factors for PTSD six months after therapy.
So for the brand new trial, his team tested the results of two compressed PE formats, where vets attended therapy every weekday for 3 weeks. It’s an idea that some PTSD programs have been offering lately.
The overall idea, Peterson explained, is that the short time window will help more patients stick to therapy. And the intensity of every day sessions, with patients devoting their time and energy toward improving, may also boost effectiveness, he suggested.
For the study, the researchers randomly assigned 234 veterans with combat-related PTSD to one among two groups. One received 90-minute PE therapy sessions, five days every week, for 3 weeks.
Essentially, Peterson explained, PE encourages people to dig into their trauma-related memories, retelling their stories and learning to face — fairly than avoid — situations and feelings that remind them of their trauma.
The opposite study group also had every day PE sessions, plus various “modules” that prolonged the treatment to a full day.
A few of those enhancements included education sessions that involved members of the family or friends, onsite “homework” assignments, and feedback from therapists.
In the long run, the trial found, each groups fared equally well. Greater than 60% of patients saw a considerable reduction of their PTSD symptoms soon after therapy ended, and the improvements were largely maintained for six months.
Meanwhile, greater than half of the vets now not met the factors for PTSD six months after treatment ended.
Sheila Rauch is deputy director of the Emory HealthCare Veterans Program, one among 4 academic medical centers in america that is an element of the Warrior Care Network. It offers a two- to three-week intensive program for vets with PTSD.
It’s quite similar, Rauch said, to the approaches tested on this trial — with PE sessions forming the “core.”
Rauch, who was not involved within the study, said high dropout rates are a key challenge with all PTSD treatments. In her experience, she said, many veterans prefer getting a “big bolus of treatment,” meaning a big, concentrated regimen.
“They’ll say, ‘I’m doing PTSD treatment immediately, and that is my job,'” Rauch said, noting that her program retains greater than 90% of patients.
Based on the present trial, Peterson said, the prolonged exposure therapy itself appears key, fairly than the enhancements. That means the longer days, and added expense, may not be warranted.
Rauch said she thinks more research is required on that query, because there have been signs the more-intensive program could have longer-lasting effects: Among the symptom improvement within the PE-only group was waning by six months.
The underside line, each experts said, is that effective treatment is offered.
“PTSD treatments work for loads of people,” Rauch said. “And when you’re capable of stick to it, you are more more likely to be one among those people.”
That said, the intensive PE formats studied on this trial should not yet widely available — and, Rauch noted, might not be covered by insurance.
Veterans, nonetheless, can receive treatment through the Warrior Care Network freed from charge. They can even contact Department of Veterans Affairs for help to find additional options, Rauch said.
In line with the VA, all of its medical centers provide PTSD treatment.
The findings were published online Jan. 5 in JAMA Network Open.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has more on PTSD.
SOURCES: Alan Peterson, PhD, professor, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; Sheila Rauch, PhD, professor, psychiatry, deputy director, Emory Healthcare Veterans Program, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta; JAMA Network Open, Jan. 5, 2023, online
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