Evidence-Based Practice for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

This chapter briefly reviews the evidence for other posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) interventions so as to provide a comprehensive summary of treatment options for the disorder. The appropriate use of evidence-based practices, administered as soon as possible after return from deployment, may offer the best hope for alleviating PTSD and preventing subsequent occupational, social, and familial impairments. A number of etiological pathways and causal mechanisms have been implicated in the development of PTSD. PTSD is a severe psychiatric disorder resulting from a history of exposure to a traumatic event that results in a minimum threshold of symptoms across four symptom clusters namely: intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood, and alterations in arousal and reactivity. Additional criteria relate to duration of symptoms, functioning, and differential diagnosis due to a substance or other co-occurring condition.