Emerging interventions for PTSD: Future directions for clinical care and research

Efficacious therapeutic approaches for treating Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are needed given the significant psychosocial and physical impairment associated with the disorder (e.g., Hidalgo and Davidson, 2000, Jaycox and Foa, 1999 and Stein et al., 2000). Although variations of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) effectively treat PTSD, non-response rates and dropout rates remain relatively high (Bradley et al., 2005 and Schottenbauer et al., 2008). Thus, treatment outcome research is needed to improve the effectiveness of existing protocols, particularly within specific populations, develop new approaches for treating individuals who cannot access or do not benefit from traditional treatments, and evaluate the types of treatment that may be effective for particular individuals. The present review provides an overview of emerging treatment approaches for PTSD that attempt to address these remaining issues in the treatment outcome literature.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled ‘Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder’.

► Novel PTSD interventions have been proposed, but they are inadequately studied and effect size estimates vary considerably. ► Tailoring of empirically supported treatments to remote delivery formats appears to be generally well tolerated and efficacious. ► Modification of current treatments to specific populations shows promise but merits additional study.