Psychological interventions following trauma to prevent posttraumatic stress disorder A systematic review of the literature

Introduction: Because of the high prevalence of exposure to traumatic events and its negative consequences on mental health, the importance of effective interventions to prevent posttraumatic stress disorder has been emphasized. Aim: The authors wanted to evaluate the current status of evidence regarding early psychological interventions after traumatization. Method: A search was conducted in ProQuest PILOTS, PubMed, and Web of Science for early psychological interventions that were published between 2005 and 2015. Results: Twenty-one trials were identified, of which 6 presented immediate interventions (within 72 hours) and the rest early interventions within the first month. Based on these research findings immediate interventions are not effective, whilst multi-session cognitive behavior therapies could be effective in symptom reduction. Conclusions: Multi-session cognitive behavior therapy is preferred over immediate one session interventions especially over debriefing. A natural decline of symptoms was observed among controls and, therefore, targeted interventions are recommended only for people with higher risk for developing subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder.