Study Suggests Shorter Therapy Sessions are Just as Effective

Sarasota, FL (WorkersCompensation.com) – Traditionally, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) which usually occurs for 12 sessions, has been a common approach to treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The goal of the specialized treatment is to help the patient review and change beliefs that may be unproductive or hurtful that are related to the trauma.

While the treatment protocol has been successful, one of the issues with CPT therapy is that due to the length of sessions required, the dropout rate tends to be higher than other forms of therapy. Military service members especially tend to be reluctant to receive care for PTSD, and as such are the highest percentage of drop outs for this kind of therapy.

Written Exposure Therapy is a trauma focused manual exposure-based psychotherapy that is also recommended by the VA for cases of PTSD. Also known as WET, thee therapy usually involves only 5 sessions of the patient writing about a specific traumatic event for 40 to 60 minutes. Patients generally have no homework, but are given specific instructions before they begin their written account of the traumatic event. In the initial sessions, the therapists focus primarily on the patient’s level of engagement in writing about the event.

In consideration of the dropout rates, researchers from the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System set out to determine whether the shorter 5 session WET therapy protocol was inferior to the 12 session CPT therapy protocol.

The study participants included a total of 169 active service members seeking treatment for PTSD while stationed in Texas. CPT therapy assigned participants totaled 84, and the number assigned to WET therapy was 85. To be considered for the study, participants had to meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, and agree to remain on any prescribed psychotropic medication for at least 4 weeks prior to the study. Individuals with severe traumatic brain injury, active psychosis, or suicide or homicide risk were excluded.

WET therapy consisted of 5 weekly sessions, with the first session lasting an hour and the remaining sessions at 45 minutes. The first session the participants were given educational information about PTSD and treatment rationale, and then given specific instructions for writing about their trauma with a writing time of 30 minutes.

The CPT therapy sessions consisted of 12 one-hour sessions that occurred twice per week. Participants were taught to recognize and challenge dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs. With the help of the therapists, the participants learned to label and analyze events, thoughts, and emotions. They were given assignments as well between sessions and used progressive worksheets.

PTSD symptom severity was significantly reduced in both treatment conditions, with continual improvement noted over time. In an overall comparison, the WET method had almost half as many treatment dropouts at 24 percent than the CPT method at 46 percent. When compared against the first 5 sessions however, there were no differences.

In conclusion, the researchers felt that the shorter WET protocol was no less effective than the more intensive CPT method. Additionally, they felt that the shorter WET sessions could be of high value in cases where time constraints may limit engagements in treatment.

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