Can Group Therapy Help PTSD Patients While They Wait for Individual Treatment?

What you need to know

A group therapy program for complex PTSD patients waiting for individual treatment was found to be feasible and acceptable.
The program led to significant reductions in PTSD symptoms for most participants.
Group therapy may help prevent symptom deterioration and prepare patients for individual trauma-focused treatments.

Understanding PTSD and Treatment Challenges

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. People with PTSD may have intrusive memories of the trauma, avoid reminders of it, experience negative changes in their thoughts and mood, and feel constantly on edge. PTSD can significantly impact a person’s quality of life and daily functioning.

In England, one of the main sources of treatment for PTSD is the NHS Talking Therapies program. This program aims to provide evidence-based psychological therapies for common mental health problems, including PTSD. The recommended treatments for PTSD typically involve 8-12 sessions of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).

However, many individuals with PTSD have complex presentations that may require more extensive treatment. Complex PTSD (CPTSD) is a related condition that involves the core symptoms of PTSD plus additional difficulties with emotion regulation, self-concept, and relationships. People with complex trauma histories or CPTSD often need longer-term, multi-faceted treatment approaches.

This creates a challenge for mental health services. Offering extended treatment to patients with complex needs can lead to longer wait times for everyone seeking help. Longer waits are associated with symptom worsening and poorer treatment outcomes. To address this issue, some services have started offering group-based programs to patients while they wait for individual therapy.

The Stabilization Group Program

Researchers at Plymouth Options, an NHS Talking Therapies service, developed and evaluated a group therapy program for PTSD patients waiting for individual treatment. The program consisted of five weekly two-hour sessions led by two therapists. It focused on:

Psychoeducation about trauma and its effects
Strategies for managing PTSD symptoms
Emotion regulation skills
Cognitive restructuring techniques
Mindfulness practices

The group was based on a “stabilization” approach, which aims to help patients develop coping skills and emotional stability before engaging in more intensive trauma processing work. Each session included educational content, group discussions, and experiential exercises to practice new skills.

Study Design and Participants

The researchers invited 120 patients from the PTSD treatment waitlist to participate in the group program. Of these, 58 agreed to join. The study used a pre-post design, measuring participants’ symptoms before and after the group intervention.

Participants completed questionnaires assessing their PTSD symptoms (using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised), depression symptoms (using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9), and anxiety symptoms (using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7). They also provided feedback on their experience in the group.

Most participants (69%) had complex PTSD presentations. Many had experienced repeated trauma across their lifespan, including childhood abuse, adult interpersonal violence, or military-related trauma.

Key Findings

Feasibility and Acceptability

The study found that the group program was both feasible to implement and acceptable to participants:

Nearly 50% of invited patients chose to participate in the group.
86% of those who started the group completed at least 3 out of 5 sessions.
74% of participants attended all five sessions.
In feedback surveys, 97% of participants said they would recommend the course to others and found it worthwhile.
86% reported feeling more confident in managing their trauma symptoms after the group.

Participants highlighted several benefits of the group format:

Learning they were not alone in their struggles
Feeling validated and understood by others with similar experiences
Gaining hope from hearing others’ experiences

Clinical Benefits

The researchers found evidence that the group program provided clinical benefits:

PTSD symptoms: There was a significant reduction in PTSD symptoms from before to after the group. The effect size was medium to large, indicating a substantial improvement.
73% of participants showed reliable improvement in their PTSD symptoms.
Two participants no longer met criteria for PTSD after the group.
Depression and anxiety: There were minimal changes in depression and anxiety symptoms. While not a primary target of the intervention, preventing worsening of these symptoms while waiting for treatment is an important outcome.
70-73% of participants showed no significant worsening of depression or anxiety.

These results suggest the group program went beyond just stabilizing symptoms and actually helped reduce PTSD severity for many participants.

Participant Experiences

Qualitative feedback from participants provided insight into their experiences:

“The course has really helped me to accept the way that I am right now and given me hope for the future with the skills I’ve learned; thank you so much. It’s been a real help.”

“I have gained strength and courage from attending and learning the coping mechanisms.”

“Attending the group helped me to realize that I am not alone in this…I found comfort in this.”

“Learning about everything with everybody and being in a room where people understand what it’s like to go through this has been so helpful to me.”

These comments highlight the therapeutic benefits of group support and validation, as well as the practical value of learning coping skills.

Limitations and Future Directions

The study had some important limitations to consider:

The sample size was relatively small.
There was no control group, so it’s not certain that improvements were due solely to the group program.
Only those who completed the program provided feedback, potentially biasing the results.
Long-term follow-up data was not collected to see if benefits were maintained.

Future research could address these limitations by:

Conducting a randomized controlled trial comparing the group to a waitlist control condition
Including a larger sample size
Collecting follow-up data to assess long-term outcomes
Gathering feedback from all participants, including those who dropped out

Additionally, it would be valuable to explore whether participating in the group affects patients’ engagement and outcomes in subsequent individual therapy.

Conclusions

A brief group-based stabilization program appears to be a feasible and acceptable intervention for PTSD patients waiting for individual treatment.
The program may help prevent symptom deterioration and even lead to meaningful reductions in PTSD symptoms for some patients.
Group formats offer unique benefits through peer support and validation of shared experiences.
While not a replacement for individual trauma-focused therapy, such programs could be a valuable addition to PTSD treatment pathways.

This study provides preliminary evidence supporting the use of group interventions to support PTSD patients during treatment wait times. By offering coping skills, psychoeducation, and peer support, these programs may help patients stay engaged in treatment and prepare for more intensive individual work. Further research is needed to confirm these benefits and optimize group-based approaches for complex trauma populations.