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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2025 Aug 12.
Published before final editing as: Health Psychol Rev. 2025 Jul 16:1–19. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2025.2526666

Table 2.

Study results (N = 11) including dropout rates and group comparisons on PTSD symptom outcomes.

First author, Year Treatment/Comparison Posttreatment dropout % (n) Treatment Posttreatment dropout % (n) Comparison Primary outcome (Measure) Baseline mean (SD) Treatment Baseline mean (SD) Comparison Follow-up assessment Follow-up mean (SD) Treatment Follow-up mean (SD) Comparison p-valuea Cohen’s d Effect Sizeb

DuHamel et al., 2010 CBT with trauma focus/Assessment only 9.6 (5) 8.1 (3) PTSD symptoms (PCL-C) 32.05 (12.39) 33.97 (11.36) 6-mon
9-mon
12-mon
25.38 (12.57)
24.63 (12.09)
24.00 (15.00)
32.05 (13.97)
31.99 (13.10)
30.89 (13.07)
.030*
.012*
.031*
0.51
0.59
0.48
Shemesh et al., 2011 CBT with trauma focus/Medication education 23.3 (7) 6.7 (2) PTSD symptoms (IES) NR NR 2-mon NR NR >.05 NA
Arabia et al., 2011 EMDR/Imaginal exposure 0 (0) 0 (0) PTSD symptoms (IES-R) Total sample:
33.62 (7.21) IES-R > 33:
40.00 (6.65)
Total sample:
32.29 (7.21) IES-R > 33:
40.88 (6.27)
PT
6-mon
PT
6-mon
12.10 (7.19)
7.95 (7.86)
13.73 (6.66)
8.03 (7.52)
19.67 (7.21) 13.64 (7.57)
25.13 (6.27)
17.67 (6.60)
.004
.022
.001
.009
1.05
0.74
1.75
1.35
Pacella et al., 2012 PE/Weekly monitoring 32.3 (11) 0 (0) PTSD symptoms (PSS-I) 25.30 (10.26) 26.00 (9.62) PT
3-mon
8.30 (4.83)
7.32 (6.74)
24.13 (10.66)
20.46 (8.94)
<.001*
<.001*
1.90
1.65
Capezzani et al., 2013 EMDR/CBT 0 (0) 0 (0) PTSD symptoms (IES-R) 50.91 (9.45) 54.70 (10.62) PT 20.55 (17.85) 46.60 (14.13) .001* 1.61
Ford et al., 2016 CBT/Usual cardiac care NR NR PTSD symptoms (IES-R, mean item) 2.23 (0.70) 2.08 (0.39) 12-mon 0.98 (0.53) 1.49 (0.56) .016* 0.93
Carletto et al., 2016 EMDR/Relaxation therapy 20 (5) 12 (3) PTSD symptoms (IES-R) 53.05 (12.87) 51.36 (9.58) PT
6-mon
28.25 (18.28) NR 28.68 (19.39)
NR
>.05
>.05
.02
NA
Jarero et al., 2018 EMDR/Waitlist control 0 (0) 13.3 (4) PTSD symptoms (PCL-5) 44.89 (10.26) 43.85 (11.19) PT
3-mon
20.51 (8.80)
17.89 (11.67)
37.19 (12.89)
35.09 (9.79)
<.001*
<.001*
1.55
1.58
Jiang et al., 2022 Supportive therapy/Health education 11.1 (1) 0 (0) PTSD symptoms (PCL-5) NR NR 6-mon 33.75 (6.92) 46.11 (8.14) .004* 1.63
Zolfa et al., 2023 WET/Assessment only 0 (0) 0 (0) PTSD symptoms
(PCL-5)
56.52 (4.68) 55.83 (3.69) PT
3-mon
34.09 (4.14)
32.30 (2.74)
52.78 (4.92)
52.43 (4.68)
<.001*
<.001*
4.11
5.25
Jiang et al., 2023 TMS and TMS + BE/Sham TMS TMS + BE
NR (2) TMS
NR (2)
Sham TMS NR (1) PTSD symptoms
(IES-R)
TMS + BE
50.4 (8.5)
TMS
49.0 (10.5)
Sham TMS
47.9 (8.6)
3-mon NR
NR
NR .001*
.01*
NA
NA

Note. CBT: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing; IES-R: Impact of Event Scale-Revised; NA: not applicable; NR: not reported; PCL-5: PTSD Checklist for DSM-5; PCL-C: PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version; PE: Prolonged Exposure; PSS-I: PTSD Symptom Scale – Interview Version; PT: posttreatment; SD: standard deviation; TMS: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; TMS + BE: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation plus brief exposure; WET: Written Exposure Therapy

a

p-values were calculated for this review based on reported values using t-tests (two-tailed, assuming equal variances) comparing posttreatment and follow-up means for treatment and comparison groups.

b

Cohen’s d estimates were calculated for this systematic review when available information was reported. Positive values indicate that the treatment condition was favoured over the comparison condition.