Citation

Tyler H, Fina BA, Marx BP, Young-McCaughan S, Sloan DM, Kaplan AM, Green VR, Blankenship A, Bryan CJ, Peterson AL. Cogn. Behav. Pract. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.cbpra.2021.06.011

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at an elevated risk of suicide. For patients hospitalized for suicide risk, psychosocial treatment and stabilization are routinely offered; however, the availability of evidence-based, manualized therapeutic interventions for PTSD is sparse. Typically, the short duration of hospitalization makes it difficult to accommodate evidence-based, trauma-focused treatments. This article presents the clinical course of four active-duty service members with PTSD who were hospitalized in a psychiatric inpatient unit for acute suicide risk and treated with Written Exposure Therapy for Suicide (WET-S). WET-S is a brief, five-session therapy based upon Written Exposure Therapy and augmented with Crisis Response Planning for Suicide Prevention. Both posttraumatic stress symptoms and suicidal ideation were reduced from pre- to posttreatment for three of the four patients treated. WET-S shows promise as a manualized therapeutic intervention that can be delivered on an inpatient psychiatric unit.

Language: en

Keywords

evidence-based treatments; inpatient psychiatry; posttraumatic stress disorder; suicide