One size does NOT fit all -- in treatment for abuse-related posttrauma symptoms
May 5, 2012
Not surprisingly, research has shown what many of us have felt for a long time -- our early traumatic relationships badly affect our ability to have a variety of types of relationships, including those with our "formal" caregivers -- our doctors, psychiatrists and counsellors. The nature of relationship is vitally important to the success of the treatment and counselling we receive -- fully equal partnership and consensus over treatment goals and process are vitally important. Even more recent research supports this -- see here
In this study, patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and comorbidities of major depressive disorder (MDD) or childhood sexual abuse (CSA) were found to be particularly sensitive to not getting their treatment of choice, with this effect predictive of poorer treatment outcome. "What seems to be driving impaired recovery is not getting the treatment you want, and in certain subgroups you see a particularly robust impact of this discrepancy," principal investigator Norah Feeny, PhD, director of the PTSD Treatment and Research Program, Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio, told delegates attending the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) 32nd Annual Conference. "A one-size-fits-all approach is not going to continue to work for the treatment of PTSD."
Medscape Medical News © 2012 WebMD
Readers may also be interested in an early study on factors affecting client-therapist alliance early in treatment for PTSD, including clients' experience of childhood trauma here