A recent study by Johns Hopkins researchers has found that people suffering from drug dependency and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) do not relapse into drug use when cognitive behavioral therapy is employed for the PTSD.
Building on a previous study, Jessica Peirce, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, led a research team that examined drug-dependent patients who were being exposed to the behavioral therapy to treat PTSD. They tracked the level of patients' cravings for drugs before and after each weekly therapy session, as well as self-reported instances of patient drug use, and other factors. They found no increase in drug use, patients reported no stress increase after therapy sessions, and PTSD severity scores dropped 54% on average by the ninth week of therapy.
"Now that we have evidence that treating PTSD won’t impact recovery, patients can request therapy, and mental health providers have a duty to make it available to their patients," Peirce said in a release issued by Johns Hopkins Medicine. "There is a lot more resilience within this population than many health care providers give them credit for, and not offering the proper treatment is doing patients a disservice."
The results of the study can be viewed on the National Library of Medicine website.
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