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VA Research Currents archive
Posted September 13, 2013
(VA Research Currents; online only)
Based on past trials, prolonged exposure therapy is one of two evidence-based psychotherapies that VA is teaching on a wide scale to its mental health clinicians for treating posttraumatic stress disorder. The other is cognitive processing therapy.
Recent study results add more evidence on the effectiveness of prolonged exposure therapy. A Palo Alto team with VA�s National Center for PTSD tracked the outcomes of treatment for more than 1,900 Veterans with PTSD, as delivered by more than 800 clinicians who had completed VA�s four-day training workshop on the therapy.
The therapy allows patients to emotionally relive their traumas in a safe, controlled manner.
The study authors concluded that "clinically significant reductions in PTSD symptoms were achieved among male and female veterans of all war eras and with veterans suffering from combat-and non-combat-related PTSD. Results also indicate that [prolonged exposure] is effective in reducing depression symptoms, even though depression is not a direct target of the treatment."
(JAMA Psychiatry, online July 17, 2013)