ABSTRACT
Of those who complete treatment for PTSD with various forms of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), more than half improve. Looking at those who complete treatment, 67 per cent no longer meet criteria for PTSD, and of those who enter treatment (whether or not they complete), the recovery rate is 56 per cent (Bradley et al. 2005). However, the clinical trials for PTSD have excluded roughly 30 per cent patients referred for treatment and those studies with more exclusion criteria have produced better results. There is thus a concern about the extent to which one can generalise from the outcome studies to individuals in the community with PTSD who may also have a number of additional disorders. Nevertheless both CBT and EMDR are clearly helpful to at least half of PTSD sufferers.
