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Prolonged exposure (PE) and cognitive therapy are more effective than a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or no treatment in preventing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; JW Psychiatry Nov 21 2011). Treatment and prevention of PTSD may involve extinguishing fear, averting the consolidation of an association between a traumatic stimulus and a fear response, or replacing that association with another. Thus, researchers hypothesized that PE to stimuli associated with a trauma very soon after the event would prevent PTSD.
The 137 participants were screened in a level 1 trauma center after rape, other assaults, motor vehicle accidents, or other traumas (mean age, 31; 48 men). They were assigned within 12 hours to three weekly 1-hour indiv…