Psychotherapy for PTSD in the community: reported prototypical treatments

Abstract

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.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood abuse—Principles for a treatment manual

“…The wide use of psychodynamic approaches in the treatment of PTSD (Schottenbauer et al, 2006) is noteworthy in light of existing research data indicating a substantial lack of empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy for PTSD.…”

“…Although largely understudied (Cloitre, 2009), psychodynamic approaches have been widely used for treatment of PTSD among practitioners (Schottenbauer, Arnkoff, Glass, & Gray, 2006). Several reasons might contribute to this (Schottenbauer, Glass, Arnkoff, & Gray, 2008a): First, a basic understanding of psychic trauma has been crucial for psychoanalytic thinking from its beginning (Freud, 1888(Freud, /1966(Freud, , 1917(Freud, /1953(Freud, , 1920(Freud, /1955, and psychodynamic authors have constantly underscored the importance of trust and relationship issues involved in childhood abuse (Ferenczi, 1949;Rangell, 1986).…”

Psychotherapists' ideals in the treatment of panic disorder: An exploratory study

“…It is important to note the preliminary and exploratory nature of our study. Generalisability is limited due to our small samplealthough this is comparable to similar PQS studies (Schottenbauer et al, 2006;Weis, Schottenbauer & Gray, 2009). Our sample was also comprised of participants who were members of professional organisationsand perhaps more interested in research-related activities than other community clinicians.…”

“…Participants may continue to rearrange their responses until the ordering and scoring of PQS items are reflective of their views. Multiple research applications attest to the relevance and comprehensiveness of the PQS in describing psychotherapy process (Ablon & Jones, 1998;Goodman, 2013;Pole, Ablon & O'Connor, 2008;Schottenbauer, Arnkoff, Glass & Hafter Gray, 2006).…”

Psychotherapists in the Community: Reported Prototypical Psychodynamic Treatments of Trauma

“…Correlations among these two factors-established prototypes of psychotherapy (Ablon andJones 1998, 2002) and psychotherapy for trauma (Schottenbauer et al 2006)-are presented in Table 1. The first factor was integrative, and significantly correlated with Ablon and Jones's prototypes of psychodynamic, CBT, and interpersonal therapy.…”