Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: An Assessment of the Evidence

Assessor Blinded?	Baseline^b and Change in PTSD Measure		Statistically Significant? (versus control)	Loss of Diagnosis (%)	Principal Limitations
Yes	F	I		per PDS^g	No major limitations
	~32^f	~26
	20.5	16.5	Yes	85.7%
	9.7	7.1		21.4%
	7.2	3.5		27.6%
Yes	77.76, 71.14				No major limitations
	−26.94		No	42%
	−22.9			59%
Yes	NR			NR	Dropout from 33% to 46% handled with LOCF
	−30		Yes	75%
	−36		Yes	65%
	−38		Yes	63%
	−14			55%
^cSelf-help booklet. ^dRepeated assessments. ^eCAPS frequency and intensity scores were reported, but no CAPS total provided. ^fIn Ehlers et al., 2003, the 3-month follow-up was considered the post-treatment point (p. 1029). ^gPosttraumatic Diagnostic Scale. ^hNo control. ⁱCS is the only control.

that future well-designed studies will have an important impact on confidence in the effect and the size of the effect.

Conclusion: The committee concludes that the evidence is inadequate to determine the efficacy of coping skills therapies in the treatment of PTSD.

Exclusion Notes

The committee excluded one study comparing three different coping skills with no control group (Watson et al., 1997). See Table 4-7 for a summary of included studies.

OTHER PSYCHOTHERAPIES

The committee identified four individual trials of other psychotherapies—eclectic psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, psychodynamic therapy, and

Table of Contents

Front Matter R1-R12

Summary 1-16

1 Introduction 17-38

2 Methods 39-54

3 Evidence and Conclusions: Pharmacotherapy 55-92

4 Evidence and Conclusions: Psychotherapy 93-136

5 Issues in PTSD Treatment Research 137-158

Appendix A: PTSD Psychological Interventions 159-164

Appendix B: Search Strategy 165-168

Appendix C: Measures Used in the Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder 169-184

Appendix D: Analysis and Interpretation of Studies with Missing Data 185-194

Appendix E: Acronyms 195-198

Appendix F: Agenda for Public Meeting Held by the Committee on Treatment of PTSD 199-202

Appendix G: Committee Member Biographies 203-208

Appendix H: Minority Opinion of Dr. Thomas Mellman 209-212

Exclusion Notes

OTHER PSYCHOTHERAPIES