Trial reportJournal of consulting and clinical psychology2018
Changes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms over the course of prolonged exposure.
Trial report in Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effect of Concurrent Depression on PTSD Outcomes in Trauma-Focused Psychotherapy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Behavior therapy · 2021Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Treatments for Adolescent and Adult Sexual Assault Victims.Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses AssociationPooled it
- Psychotherapy for PTSD - a scoping review of how change during treatment has been studied.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Antidepressant-like effects of extinction learning as an animal model of behavioral therapy.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- A pilot study of twice-weekly group-based written exposure therapy for veterans in residential substance use treatment: effects on PTSD and depressive symptoms.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2025Article
- A Pilot Study of Twice-Weekly Group-Based Written Exposure Therapy for Veterans in Residential Substance Use Treatment: Effects on PTSD and Depressive Symptoms.Research square · 2024Article
- Histamine HNature communications · 2024Article
- Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A State-of-the-art Review.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- Similar PTSD symptom networks observed in male and female survivors of military sexual assault: implications for understanding trauma responses.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- A Distinction Without a Difference? A Multi-Method Approach to Understanding PTSD and Depression Symptom Overlap Among Disaster-Exposed Adolescents.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2023Article
- COVID-19 Worries and Insomnia: A Follow-Up Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Worry about COVID-19 as a predictor of future insomnia.Journal of sleep research · 2022Article
- Observational
- Changes in affect, physical activity, physical health, and sleep in cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety: A pilot study.Journal of behavioral and cognitive therapy · 2022Article
- Depression and PTSD in the aftermath of strict COVID-19 lockdowns: a cross-sectional and longitudinal network analysis.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Article
- Exposure Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Factors of Limited Success and Possible Alternative Treatment.Brain sciences · 2020Article
- Efficacy of eye movement desensitization & reprocessing versus cognitive behavioral therapy in Post-Traumatic Stress and Depressive Symptoms: Study protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePrior studies of prolonged exposure therapy (PE) suggested that reduction of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) precedes reduction in depression, yet no research has collapsed data across multiple studies to examine whether the directionality of reduction remains consistent in larger and diagnostically diverse samples. Thus, the objective of this study is to conduct an evaluation of bidirectional associations between PTSD and depression in PE.
methodParticipants (n = 216) from three randomized controlled trials of PE alone, PE + alcohol use disorder treatment, and PE + nicotine use disorder treatment completed weekly PTSD and depression severity measures. First, we analyzed the directional relationship between PTSD and depression over time in 2 single models to separately examine the effects of PTSD on depression and vice versa. Second, we analyzed a combined model to examine the simultaneous effects of reduction in PTSD on reduction in depression over and above the effects of reduction in depression on reduction in PTSD, and vice versa.
resultsTwo single models suggested that reductions in PTSD lead to reductions in depression and vice versa. The combined models suggested that both directions of change are important and reciprocal. The strength of predictive power from PTSD to depression, and vice versa, is approximately equal. Most significant prediction of PTSD from depression and vice versa occurred early in treatment.
conclusionThe relationship between reductions in PTSD and depression during PE is transactional. Regardless of whether PTSD or depression decreases first, reduction in the other symptom cluster is likely to follow. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.