The development of group CBT for the treatment of road-traffic-accident-related post-traumatic stress disorder: a pilot study

Individually focused CBT for road traffic accident (RTA)-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involving exposure and cognitive restructuring has been shown to be effective. Group CBT interventions provide an opportunity for treatment to be delivered in a cost-effective fashion and may also be 'normalizing' for patients, but few evaluations have been published. Many elements of CBT lend themselves well to group presentation, although implementing exposure presents a specific problem. The development and preliminary evaluation of a group (n = 6) targeting RTA-related PTSD is described here. Pre-and post-questionnaire evaluation is accompanied by assessment of patient satisfaction. Four of the group no longer met diagnostic criteria and the remaining two showed clinically significant change in both the number and severity of symptoms. In addition symptoms of depression decreased from the severe to the mild range within the group and there were high levels of participant satisfaction reported. Further research is required to evaluate this and similar packages before group treatment can be advocated as an alternative to individual CBT for PTSD.