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Do patients drop out prematurely from exposure therapy for PTSD?
Author(s) -
Hembree Elizabeth A.,
Foa Edna B.,
Dorfan Nicole M.,
Street Gordon P.,
Kowalski Jeanne,
Tu Xin
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1023/b:jots.0000004078.93012.7d
Subject(s) - exposure therapy , dropout (neural networks) , tolerability , cognitive behavioral therapy , clinical psychology , cognitive processing therapy , drop out , posttraumatic stress , psychology , cognitive therapy , medicine , cognition , psychiatry , adverse effect , anxiety , machine learning , computer science , economics , demographic economics
Many studies have demonstrated the efficacy of exposure therapy in the treatment of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite the convincing outcome literature, a concern that this treatment may exacerbate symptoms and lead to premature dropout has been voiced on the basis of a few reports. In this paper, we examined the hypothesis that treatments that include exposure will be associated with a higher dropout rate than treatments that do not include exposure. A literature search identified 25 controlled studies of cognitive–behavioral treatment for PTSD that included data on dropout. The results indicated no difference in dropout rates among exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, stress inoculation training, and EMDR. These findings are consistent with previous research about the tolerability of exposure therapy.