In the world of treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) there seems to be an insatiable desire for new and novel treatments, and there is a frequent refrain that “We need effective treatments for PTSD!”
Even die-hard proponents of evidence-based psychotherapy (EBP) such as myself acknowledge that it comes with challenges. Of course, there are some patients who are uninterested in EBPs for a variety of reasons. But even motivated and engaged patients don’t always complete treatment or gain significant benefit. Research has long focused on how we can improve outcomes and completion rates for “non responders” and “dropouts.”
In our first episode of season 4, we tackle one of the top concerns we hear in our PTSD EBP workshops and consultation… “But what if my client dissociates?!”. If this has been on your list of clinical worries, worry no more! In this episode we are joined by one of CDP’s PTSD experts, Dr. Kelly Chrestman to dig into what is dissociation (and what isn’t)? What is its function? How can we best assess it? When is it likely to show up? AND most importantly, what providers can do to manage it in the context of their EBP work!
The percentage of providers is a recent study who reported using Prolonged Exposure therapy (PE) in PTSD treatment, according to a recent article in the journal Behavior Therapy -- Exposure Therapy Beliefs and Utilization for Treatment of PTSD: A Survey of Licensed Mental Health Providers. Roughly 2/3 of those surveyed (68%) reported having received training in PE.
Dr. Kim Copeland continues her discussion with the developer of DBT-PE, Dr. Harned in the second part of this vlog. They talk about several topics including how to tell when patients are ready for DBT-PE, how DBT-PE differs from traditional PE, some of the research supporting DBT-PE, how to ensure engagement during treatment, and how to get trained in DBT-PE.