Prolonged exposure for combat veterans with ptsd

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (ptsd) is a disabling sequelae of war and other traumatic events and poses a significant treatment challenge to clinicians. Several manualized psychotherapeutic treatment modalities have been studied and found efficacious. Among these, prolonged exposure (PE) is an established brief cognitive behavioral therapy. This chapter illustrates the application of PE using a clinical vignette of combat-related ptsd in a young soldier who sustained a gunshot wound and later developed delayed-onset ptsd. It provides a brief review of the current evidence for the application of PE in civilian and military ptsd and addresses the challenges of applying manual-based therapy.