Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34473342›Full record

SynthesisActa psychiatrica Scandinavica2022

Trauma-focused psychotherapies for post-traumatic stress disorder: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Brooke Jericho, Aileen Luo, David Berle

Abstract readSystematic ReviewNetwork Meta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
38citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

38 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  13. Therapists' Attitudes and Exclusion Criteria for Prolonged Exposure and EMDR in Patients With Eating Disorders and PTSD.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Brooke JerichoDiscipline of Clinical Psychology, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Aileen LuoDiscipline of Clinical Psychology, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-0541-6422
David BerleDiscipline of Clinical Psychology, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-4861-2220

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionMeta-analytic reviews suggest similar outcomes across trauma-focused psychotherapies for adults with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, this conclusion may be premature due to suboptimal statistical-review methodologies. Network meta-analysis (NMA) allows a detailed rank-ordering of the efficacy of established psychotherapy interventions derived from indirect evidence as well as results from direct head-to-head comparisons.

objectiveWe sought to determine the efficacy and attrition rates of psychotherapy interventions for PTSD by applying NMA.

methodsWe searched EMBASE, PsychINFO, PTSDPubs and PubMed for randomised controlled trials that compared psychotherapies either head-to-head or against controls for adults with PTSD. A frequentist NMA was used to compare direct and indirect effects to determine the efficacy and attrition rates of psychotherapy interventions.

resultsOf the 5649 papers identified, 82 trials comprising of 5838 patients were included. The network comprised 17 psychotherapies and four control conditions. Network estimates indicated superior efficacy of meta-cognitive therapy and cognitive processing therapy over other psychotherapies (ESs between = 0.26 and 2.32). Written exposure therapy and narrative exposure therapy were associated with lower risk of drop out when considered alongside other psychotherapies. Confidence in the network meta-analytic estimates was considered moderate for both outcomes.

conclusionsIn broad terms, therapeutic commensurability was evident. Nevertheless, with additional studies and larger sample sizes, meta-cognitive and written exposure therapies could indeed differentiate themselves from other approaches as having favourable efficacy and acceptability respectively. These findings may inform clinical decision-making, as well as guide future research for PTSD.

Indexed as

Cognitive Behavioral TherapyStress Disorders, Post-TraumaticAdultHumansPsychotherapyacceptabilityefficacynetwork meta-analysispsychotherapyPTSDreview

Identifiers

PMID34473342
PMCPMC9539869

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.