How Effective Are PTSD Treatments for Veterans?

Posted 2015-08-04 18:12 by Grunt Report

A new study published Tuesday suggests commonly used first-line treatments for PTSD in veterans may not work as well as medical experts once thought.

The number of American veterans who suffer from PTSD continues to be a serious national public health problem. Recent data show that more than 200,000 Vietnam War veterans still have PTSD, and other research shows that around 13% of Iraq or Afghanistan veterans who experienced combat have PTSD. The numbers continue to climb. As TIME previously reported, PTSD diagnoses among deployed troops grew by 400% from 2004 to 2012.

Now new research, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reveals that go-to treatments for the disorder may not be as effective as many in the medical community may have believed or hoped. To reach their findings, researchers from the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury at NYU Langone Medical Center reviewed 36 randomized control trials of psychotherapy treatments for veterans suffering from PTSD over a 35-year span. Two of the most commonly used treatments—and the most widely studied—are cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and prolonged exposure (PE) therapy.

CPT is a treatment that focuses on changing dysfunctional thoughts, and exposure therapy is meant to help patients face what’s causing them stress and fear.

The research showed that while up to 70% of the men and women who received CPT or PE experienced symptom improvements, around two-thirds of people receiving the treatments still met the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis after treatment. The researchers note that current veterans affairs policies emphasize the use of the two methods as treatments of choice.

The researchers also argued that veterans with PTSD are likely to have worse outcomes from treatment compared to civilians with PTSD. Though the researchers are unsure why that is, there’s some speculation: “Compared to civilian traumas such as car accidents and natural disasters, military deployment involves repeated and extended trauma exposure,” says study author Maria M. Steenkamp, an assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone. “It also involves not just life-threat, but exposure to traumatic losses and morally compromising experiences that create shame and guilt.” Veterans are also more likely to have additional mental health issues such as anxiety or substance abuse, she adds.

Read the full article over at Time.com