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Comment & Response
July 2016

Treatment Options for Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder—Reply

Author Affiliations
  • 1Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for Posttraumatic Stress and Brain Injury, New York University Langone School of Medicine, New York, New York
  • 2Department of Psychiatry, New York University, New York
JAMA Psychiatry. 2016;73(7):757-758. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.0573

In Reply The prevailing narrative on psychotherapy for military-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the literature (but perhaps not in clinical practice) is that first-line psychotherapies are highly effective for military-related PTSD. This narrative is increasingly being conveyed as fact to patients, students, clinicians, and the general public.1 It is a narrative championed in Rothbaum’s comment, which recommends individualizing treatment only to the extent that fidelity to first-line therapies can be maintained. However, it is not as Kudler and colleagues correctly underscore, a narrative that aligns completely with official Veterans Health Administration policy, which encourages thoughtful selection from a range of available PTSD treatments.

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