Group Treatment for PTSD

Despite the rich history of group treatments for PTSD, there is a surprising lack of methodologically rigorous studies in this domain. We know that at one point, “rap groups” were seen to be the treatment of choice for Vietnam Veterans (Foy et al., 2000) and support groups still play a significant role in many agencies that serve trauma survivors, including Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) settings (Hundt, Robinson, Arney, Stanley, & Cully, 2015). Despite the popularity of support groups for trauma survivors, the group treatment research literature is characterized by open trial (e.g., Ready et al., 2008) or non-randomized designs (e.g., Resick & Schnicke, 1992), which are helpful in the beginning stages of treatment development. However, the number of randomized clinical trials (RCT) is limited. Consequently, there are currently no group treatments for PTSD recognized as evidencebased (e.g., VA & Department of Defense [DoD], 2010). In this article, we will summarize the current knowledge about group treatments for PTSD and highlight areas that deserve greater empirical focus.