Studies // Cited work

Psychological therapies for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults

Bisson, J. I., Roberts, N. P., Andrew, M., Cooper, R., & Lewis, C. (2013). Psychological therapies for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults.

Level A Systematic review doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003388.pub4

What this study supports

Supports the claim that individual trauma-focused CBT and EMDR reduced clinician-assessed PTSD symptoms more than waitlist or usual care. The authors rated the evidence for every comparison as very low quality, reported more drop-out in active treatments and limited follow-up data, so claims citing it are held at moderate confidence.

Who was studied: 70 randomised controlled trials with 4,761 adults with chronic PTSD.
Design: Systematic review
Level of evidence: Syntheses of controlled studies: meta-analyses and systematic reviews of experiments and trials.

Claims that rest on it

Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.

Clinical boundaryLevel AConfidence MODERATE

Early multiple-session interventions showed no clinically important benefit over usual care for trauma-exposed people not screened for symptoms, whereas trauma-focused CBT, cognitive therapy without exposure and EMDR showed clinically important benefits for people with traumatic stress symptoms; for chronic PTSD, trauma-focused CBT and EMDR reduced clinician-assessed symptoms more than waitlist or usual care.

Scope: Randomised trials of psychological interventions after trauma in adults.
Caveat: The Cochrane review rated the evidence for every comparison as very low quality, drop-out was higher in active treatments and long-term follow-up is limited; treatment choice requires clinical assessment.

Last reviewed 2026-09-14 · Review due 2027-03-13 · advice-early-trauma-help-for-symptoms