Treating Trauma Survivors With PTSD

The book offers a snapshot of a relatively young field of psychiatric research, revealing important advances and the gaps that remain in our knowledge… . The treatment of trauma survivors is a complex, challenging, and often politicized topic. Although more empirical evidence is needed to guide treatment decisions, clinicians will have to continue treating trauma survivors even in the absence of badly needed studies. Thus a dialogue between the researchers and the clinicians will help make treatment decisions as informed as possible and will help make the research more clinically relevant. The goal of this book, as stated in the introduction, is to initiate such a dialogue, and the authors have done their part. Now, it is the reader’s turn.

This is an excellent contribution to the material on PTSD. The content is directed to diagnosis and treatment, making it very practical. The busy clinician already versed in treating PTSD through experience will appreciate the clear and critical presentation of research on the topic. Five Stars!

This thoughtful volume contains much to admire. Conscientious readers will be struck by how much they didn’t know, or didn’t think about, in the treatment of trauma survivors… . I believe strongly that this book will prove a valuable resource from which advanced trainees (in the various mental health disciplines) as well as experienced practitioners and scientists can construct a more efficacious approach to their work with trauma survivors.

Offering a wonderful collection of timely essays is Treating Trauma Survivors With PTSD, edited by Rachel Yehuda, a well-known researcher and clinician in the area of PTSD and director of the division of traumatic stress at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Contributors include Edna B. Foa Ph.D., Alexander C. McFarlane M.D., and Bessel A. van der Kolk M.D. One of the most refreshing dimensions of this volume is the two chapters on matching patients to treatment modality. In an age when even clinicians-let alone laypersons who have been led to expect one-session cures from untested treatments-may take a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment, research indicates that such an approach is bound to fail.

Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., is Director of the Division of Traumatic Stress Studies Program and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the PTSD Program at the VA Medical Center in Bronx, New York.