Psychotherapy for PTSD in the community: reported prototypical treatments

• Published in: Clinical psychology and psychotherapy Vol. 13; no. 2; pp. 108 - 122
• Main Authors: Schottenbauer, Michele A., Arnkoff, Diane B., Glass, Carol R., Gray, Sheila Hafter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01-03-2006; John Wiley and Sons, Limited
• Subjects: Cognitive therapy; Mental health care; Post traumatic stress disorder; Psychoanalysis; Psychotherapy
• ISSN: 1063-3995; 1099-0879
• DOI: 10.1002/cpp.480

Therapists who identified themselves primarily with psychodynamic/psychoanalytic or cognitive–behavioral theoretical orientations were recruited through professional organization online listservs. They were randomly presented one of four brief case studies, describing variations on traumatic stress. Participants then completed a Psychotherapy Process Q‐sort to describe quantitatively their ideal treatment of the given patient. Results indicated significant heterogeneity among clinicians. Among clinicians who indicated that their primary theoretical orientation was psychodynamic, three prototypical treatments were discovered, and among clinicians who indicated that their primary theoretical orientation was cognitive–behavioral, four prototypical treatments were found. Overall, the prototypes in the current study were correlated with, but not identical to, prototypes of psychodynamic, cognitive–behavioral or interpersonal therapy developed in previous studies based on experts' ratings. Our findings suggest that there may be much greater heterogeneity in treatment of trauma among clinicians in the community than might be assumed by the theoretical orientations they espouse. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.