Control-Focused Behavioral Treatment: A brief intervention for survivors of war and torture

Abstract

This article briefly reviews the evolution and evidence-base of Control-Focused Behavioral Treatment (CFBT), largely self-help-based treatment that involves no cognitive interventions, focuses solely on reducing avoidance behaviors through self-exposure to anxiety-evoking trauma cues, and, unlike other interventions, aims to enhance sense of control over traumatic stressors, rather than anxiety reduction. As such, it is radically different from other interventions in both theory and practice. Our studies have shown improvement rates of 80%-85% with a single treatment session in earthquake survivors. When administered in an average of 6 sessions in war and torture survivors, it achieved 82% reduction in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSD), leaving 97% of the cases nearly asymptomatic or with only mild PTSD symptoms. Meta-analytical comparisons suggest that such improvement rates are substantially higher than those achieved by other evidence-based treatments.