A comparison of cognitive-processing therapy with prolonged exposure and a waiting condition for the treatment of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder in female rape victims.

TLDR

The study compared cognitive‑processing therapy with prolonged exposure and a minimal attention condition for treating PTSD and depression in female rape victims. One hundred seventy‑one female rape victims were randomized to the three conditions, 121 completed treatment, and they were assessed with standardized PTSD, depression, and guilt measures at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 3‑ and 9‑month follow‑ups. Both CPT and prolonged exposure were highly efficacious and outperformed the minimal attention control, with CPT showing superior improvement on two of four guilt subscales while otherwise yielding comparable outcomes.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare cognitive-processing therapy (CPT) with prolonged exposure and a minimal attention condition (MA) for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. One hundred seventy-one female rape victims were randomized into 1 of the 3 conditions, and 121 completed treatment. Participants were assessed with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, the PTSD Symptom Scale, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Trauma-Related Guilt Inventory. Independent assessments were made at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 3 and 9 months posttreatment. Analyses indicated that both treatments were highly efficacious and superior to MA. The 2 therapies had similar results except that CPT produced better scores on 2 of 4 guilt subscales.