PTSD Treatment Can Start Early Despite Addiction

A recent study revealed that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be treated even if the patient, who has substance abuse problems, is just a few weeks sober. The study was conducted on war vets that suffer from PTSD and substance abuse. Before, the belief was a person with PTSD can only be treated after 6 months of being sober. All the participants were sober for less than 3 months. The small study involved a course of 12 weeks of cognitive processing therapy (CPT). There were two PTSD measures used to determine if the study was a success or not. The results showed that the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale scores declined from 74.4 to 47.6, which is a very good sign. The same goes for the PTSD checklist which also showed a decline from 55.9 to 36.4. The findings were presented at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting by Fe Erlita Festin, MD from the VA Boston Healthcare System, along with her colleagues