PTSD Symptoms change in response to a brief intensive trauma-focused treatment programme in non-veterans and veterans with war-related PTSD

<b>Background:</b> Evidence suggests that veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are less likely to benefit from trauma-focused treatment than are patients with PTSD who have not been exposed to war-related trauma. However, new developments in PTSD treatment that combine several evidence-based trauma-focused therapies within a short time frame may help veterans achieve outcomes similar to those of non-veterans.<b>Objective:</b> In this retrospective cohort study, we examined changes in PTSD symptoms and diagnostic status after treatment between veterans and non-veterans. The treatment consisted of a four- or eight-day intensive trauma-focused treatment programme that integrated prolonged exposure, EMDR therapy, psycho-education, and physical activities.<b>Methods:</b> The sample consisted of 43 veterans and 43 non-veterans, matched based on age, sex, starting date, and duration of treatment. Participants were assessed pre- and post-treatment using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale-5 (CAPS-5). The differences in CAPS-5 scores over time and between groups were modelled using Bayesian repeated-measures ANOVA. We performed Bayesian model averaging to quantify the differences in PTSD symptom changes between groups, based on treatment response, using the exclusion Bayes factor (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>B</mml:mi><mml:msub><mml:mi>F</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mi>EXCL</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:math>).<b>Results:</b> PTSD symptoms in both veterans and non-veterans decreased between pre- and post-treatment (Cohen's <i>d</i> = 2.17 and 1.54, respectively). Furthermore, we found moderate evidence of no differences in CAPS-5 scores between the groups (<i>BF</i>_EXCL = 4.8) or between the groups over time (<i>BF</i>_EXCL = 4.9). Although a greater proportion of veterans showed improvement according to the reliable change index than non-veterans (83.7% and 74.4%, respectively), there was no difference between the groups in terms of loss of diagnostic status after treatment (74.4% for veterans and 76.7% for non-veterans).<b>Conclusion:</b> This study provides evidence that veterans with war-related PTSD can benefit from brief intensive, trauma-focused treatment and does not support the notion that veterans need a different treatment approach in such settings.