Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Treatment-resistant Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Study

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Cognitive and Behavioral Practice

Volume

16

Issue

3

Publisher

ScienceDirect

Publication Date

12-9-2009

First Page

243

Last Page

252

Abstract

An adult woman with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder who was nonresponsive to 20 sessions of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is presented in this case study. Two months after her CBT trial, she was treated with 21 sessions of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for PTSD. Measurements of PTSD severity, depression, anxiety, psychological flexibility and trauma-related thoughts and beliefs were taken at pretreatment, after Sessions 8 and 16, and at posttreatment. Results showed significant reduction on all measures throughout treatment, except for trauma-related thoughts and beliefs, which did not decrease until near the end of treatment. Strengths, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

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