An empirical review of potential mediators and mechanisms of prolonged exposure therapy.

ABSTRACT: Prolonged exposure (PE) is an empirically-supported treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the precise mechanism(s) by which PE promotes symptom change are not well established. Understanding how PE works is critical to improving clinical outcomes, advancing dissemination efforts, and enhancing transdiagnostic models of psychopathology. However, mechanisms research conducted in clinical treatment settings is complex, and findings may be difficult to interpret without appropriate context. This is the first review of potential mechanisms of PE to provide such context, by rigorously evaluating empirical findings in line with essential criteria for effective research on mechanisms (or mediators). We begin by describing six putative mechanisms identified by emotional processing

SUBMITTER: Cooper AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5578395 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature