Examining treatment outcomes for military service members in an intensive treatment program for posttraumatic stress disorder

To date, few studies have evaluated treatment outcomes for military service members who complete massed treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Furthermore, no studies have directly compared treatment outcomes between service members and veterans in a massed treatment setting. In the present study, we evaluated treatment outcomes for military service members who completed an intensive treatment program (ITP) for PTSD and compared their outcomes to military veterans who completed the same program. Data were collected from 558 participants who identified as U. S. military service members (<i>n</i> = 68) or veterans (<i>n</i> = 490) during a two-week, cognitive processing therapy-based ITP. Results showed that service members and veterans experienced large reductions in PTSD (<i>d</i> = 1.26 & <i>d</i> = 1.35, respectively) and depression (<i>d</i> = .82 & <i>d</i> = 1.01, respectively) severity after treatment. In addition, the reductions in PTSD and depression severity for service members were equivalent to those of veterans using a Bayes factor equivalence approach. This study contributes to the limited literature on treatment outcomes for service members who complete massed treatments for PTSD. This research is particularly important as lawmakers and military leaders continue to remove barriers to treatment for service members suffering with PTSD.