“Desensitization” Therapies Show Promise for Treating PTSD and Psychosis

Prolonged exposure (PE) treatment and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment can help patients that have been diagnosed with having both psychotic disorders and PTSD, based on a study in JAMA Psychiatry. The team of researchers from the Netherlands said that, generally, individuals with psychosis are excluded from PTSD studies, even though as many as 12.4% of individuals with psychosis also have PTSD. In the study, 155 individuals with acute psychosis and both PTSD were recruited from 13 outpatient mental health services in the Netherlands, and were randomly assigned to receive either PE, EMDR or were wait-listed. Medscape Medical News summarized that those who received PE or EMDR for 8 weeks had a greater decrease in injury symptoms and were more likely to reach loss of analysis compared with wait-listed participants. Additionally, the PE group was more likely than the delay-listed group to obtain complete remission from PTSD. Among the writers told Medscape
https://www.ptsdnews.com/desensitization-therapies-show-promise-for-treating-ptsd-and-psychosis/136/