Intensive cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder: Case studies
Grey N., McManus F., Hackmann A., Clark DM., Ehlers A.
There is good evidence from randomized controlled trials that cognitive therapy (CT) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Ehlers et al., 2009) is an effective treatment (Duffy, Gillespie, and Clark, 2007; Ehlers, Clark, Hackmann, McManus, and Fennell, 2005; Ehlers et al., 2003). Furthermore, CT has been successfully disseminated to routine clinical settings in which, in contrast to randomized trials, no exclusion criteria are applied (Duffy et al., 2007; Gillespie, Duffy, Hackmann, and Clark, 2002). Finally, CT has been shown to work for acute and chronic PTSD following from one or two events (Ehlers et al., 2003, 2005), and for very chronic PTSD following multiple traumas (Duffy et al., 2007). The effcacy and e?ectiveness of CT for PTSD is in line with the finding from recent meta-analyses that trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is effective in the treatment of PTSD (e.g., Bisson et al., 2007). Other effective forms of trauma-focused CBT are Foa’s Prolonged Exposure (Foa and Rothbaum, 1998; Foa et al., 2005) and Resick’s Cognitive Processing Therapy (Resick and Schnicke, 1993).