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Acute stress disorder (ASD) after a life-threatening trauma increases the risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. Investigators in Australia randomized 90 patients who had experienced a nonsexual assault or a motor vehicle accident in the previous month and who met DSM-IV criteria for ASD to manual-based prolonged exposure, cognitive restructuring, or wait list. Assessments occurred at 6 weeks and 6 months; the wait-list group was not assessed at 6 months because it received active treatment after 6 weeks.
Therapies comprised five weekly sessions. Exposure included psychoeducation, imaginal exposure in the office and during homework, in vivo exposure to a hierarchy of stimuli, and rehearsal of relapse-prevention strategies. Cognitive restru…