Imagery Rescripting as stand-alone treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood abuse

Objective: This case series tested the feasibility and explored the efficacy of Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) as a stand-alone treatment for PTSD related to childhood physical and/or sexual abuse (CA). Method: Participants (6 women and 2 men) were patients with PTSD related to CA who entered an 8 week treatment program with 16 twice-weekly ImRs sessions. Blind assessments took place at pre- and post-treatment and at 3 month follow-up. Results: Participants showed improvement in both self-reported and clinician-rated PTSD symptoms. Gains were maintained at 3-month follow-up. At post-treatment, 50% of participants no longer met criteria for PTSD, and this number increased to 75% at 3 month follow-up. Limitations: The main limitation is the small sample size and the selective nature of the sample, which limits the generalizability of the findings. Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that Imagery Rescripting as stand-alone treatment is feasible and effective without prior stabilization in an outpatient population with CA-related PTSD. Further replication is needed in form of a randomized controlled trial. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.