National Academy of Sciences Review of PTSD Treatment October 23, 2007
Posted by rickbarth in Uncategorized.trackback
The url below will take you to a pdf summarizing the work of the NAS’s Institute of Medicine’s recent review of 180 studies of treatment’s of PTSD. The brief focuses on findings and 8 recommendations for future work.
As an aside–social work does not have an institute within the NAS (unlike our peers in education who have a National Academy of Education); it’s long past time that we did and there have been some modest efforts by the National Association of Deans and Directors (of social work) to identify a group of senior social work scholars who could be the core of a National Academy of Social Work or, paralleling, nursing, the American Academy of Nursing) that can obtain external support to review the scientific basis for various social work practices.
http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/47/391/PTSD%20Report%20Brief%20FINAL2.pdf
This is a disconcerting view of the state of research on the efficacy of treatment models for PTSD. Only one model, exposure therapy, is mentioned as having positive outcomes and backed by sufficient research.
As a clinician, my anecdotal experience shows that the exposure therapies and EMDR may not be sufficient in themselves to address issues of self concept, social interactions, affect regulation, etc. which require longer term treatment after the initial PTSD symptoms subside.
With so many returning veterans who are diagnosed with PTSD, it is clear that much more research is necessary in this area.