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TUESDAY, Dec. 31, 2019 (HealthDay News) — For adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the evidence is insufficient to determine whether trauma-focused psychotherapy or medications are more effective for symptom reduction, according to a review published in the December issue of Psychiatry Research<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Jeffrey Sonis, M.D., from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Joan M. Cook, Ph.D., from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, identified trials comparing a trauma-focused psychotherapy to a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or serotonin\/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, with PTSD symptom reduction as the primary outcome. The inclusion criteria were met by four trials.<\/p>\n
In random effects meta-analysis of the two trials that were not at high risk of bias, the researchers observed no difference in PTSD symptom reduction; the confidence interval was wide, including values consistent with effects favoring psychotherapy to effects favoring medication. There was high heterogeneity, with I\u00b2 = 81 percent. Substantive conclusions were not altered with inclusion of the two trials with high risk of bias.<\/p>\n
“The bottom line is that while many researchers and clinicians believe that psychotherapy is more effective for treatment of PTSD than medications, our research shows that there is — as of right now — insufficient evidence from head-to-head trials to make that determination at this time,” Sonis said in a statement. “Therefore, the choice of medication or psychotherapy as the initial treatment should be based on patient preferences for treatment characteristics and not on incorrect assumptions about which treatment is more effective.”<\/p>\n
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