Objectives

Individuals with post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have neurocognitive deficits in verbal memory and executive functioning. In this study, we examined whether memory and executive functioning changed over the course of treatment and which clinical variables were associated with change.

Design

Neuropsychological assessments were administered at baseline and endpoint of a randomized controlled trial as secondary outcome.

Methods

Twenty-three nonclinical relatives of long-term missing persons were interviewed. Patterns of functioning over time were studied retrospectively by instructing participants to draw a graph that best described their pattern. Patterns most frequently drawn were a recovery and resilient/stable pattern.

Abstract

Psychotherapies are well established as efficacious acute interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the long-term efficacy of such interventions and the maintenance of gains following termination is less understood. This meta-analysis evaluated enduring effects of psychotherapy for PTSD in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with long-term follow-ups (LTFUs) of at least six months duration. Analyses included 32 PTSD trials involving 72 treatment conditions (N = 2935).

PTSD in late life can result from trauma that occurred much earlier or can follow traumatic events that occurred for the first time in old age. When trauma took place when the person was younger, PTSD in later life might represent the re-emergence after a period of extended quiescence or be the continuation of a chronic disorder experienced throughout adult life. DSM-5 criteria for the diagnosis of PTSD in older adults are no different from those for other age groups, with the exception of modified criteria for preschool children aged 6 years or younger.