An accelerated, weekend-based, prolonged exposure therapy program for veterans and service members with posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

Accelerated models of care may be one solution to the problem of underutilization of mental health treatment in veterans. We report on a novel implementation of prolonged exposure (PE) therapy in a four-day, weekend-based intensive outpatient treatment program. Seventeen military veterans and service members (M_age = 45.23, SD_age = 10.18; 76.47% male) completed the program. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were targeted in five separate cohorts. Given that this was an uncontrolled pilot study, we assessed patient satisfaction and treatment completion. In a completers analysis, PTSD and depression symptoms decreased significantly from pre- to posttreatment (p's < .05), with effect sizes of 1.22 and 0.85, respectively. Using recommended treatment response categories for the PCL-5, 76.47% were reliably changed at posttreatment. The dropout rate was 5.55%. Preliminary findings indicated that PTSD symptoms reductions were maintained from baseline to 1-month (Cohen's d = 1.19) and 3-month (Cohen's d = 1.46) follow-up. Delivering PE in a 4-day, intensive format was associated with clinically significant reductions in self-reported PTSD and depression symptoms. Additionally, completion rates and patient satisfaction were high, suggesting feasibility for patients.