Prolonged Exposure Therapy for Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the mental health condition that is triggered by the experience of a traumatic event and results in mental and physical health problems as well as interpersonal and social problems (Foa, Gillihan, and Bryant, 2013). There are currently many psychological treatments for individuals with PTSD. Although the literature covers a wide variety of therapies, this review will focus on prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for treatment of veterans with PTSD. This review will be broken down into five categories which are: manualized PE, PE with the presence of a traumatic brain injury, PE delivered via telehealth, PE with veterans who expressed a treatment preference for PE, and PE with active duty military personnel. All studies found prolonged exposure therapy as an effective treatment for veterans with PTSD.