KOLOA, HAWAII -- One way to guide posttraumatic stress disorder exposure therapy is to help patients gradually describe their trauma in as much detail as possible, Barbara Olasov Rothbaum, Ph.D., said at a premeeting session of the annual meeting of the American College of Psychiatrists.
"In the first session of exposure, I basically let them go at their own pace. For the second session, I encourage a little bit more detail," said Dr. Rothbaum, director of the trauma and anxiety recovery program and professor in the department of psychiatry at Emory University in Atlanta.
She said that by the third session of exposure, she wants patients to describe everything. "I ...