Teens who have been sexually traumatized benefit more from therapy that includes recounting the assault than from supportive counseling, a study suggests.
Such exposure treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder has had some success among adults. But it has not found favor for treatment of teens because of fear that it could exacerbate symptoms for young adults who have not developed robust coping skills.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine studied a modified form of the therapy tailored for adolescents. Over the course of six years, they randomly assigned 61 adolescent girls, ages 13-18, either to counseling or exposure therapy.
All received 14 counseling sessions of 60 to 90 minutes, and were evaluated at three months’ and six months’ time, then underwent a 12-month follow-up. Those who received the prolonged exposure showed a greater decline in PTSD and depression symptom severity during the treatment period, and greater improvement in overall function, according to the study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
