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Crisis Response Planning May Aid PTSD Treatment Outcomes

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Feb 23, 2024.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Feb. 23, 2024 -- Crisis response planning (CRP) is associated with reductions in suicidal ideation among military personnel and veterans receiving outpatient treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a study published online in the March issue of the Journal of Anxiety Disorders.

Craig J. Bryan, Psy.D., from The Ohio State University in Columbus, and colleagues randomly assigned 157 U.S. military personnel and veterans to receive CRP or self-guided safety planning (SP) prior to beginning massed cognitive processing therapy for PTSD.

The researchers found that at baseline, 32.5 percent of participants endorsed suicidal ideation. Reductions in the severity of suicidal ideation were significantly larger and faster in CRP. Among participants denying suicidal ideation at baseline, fewer CRP participants reported new-onset suicidal ideation during follow-up (8.5 versus 11.9 percent of SP participants; odds ratio, 0.69; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.19 to 2.52). Both groups saw significant declines in PTSD symptoms over time.

"CRP is a low-cost and effective strategy for managing suicide risk among patients with PTSD," the authors write. "Future studies should not only seek to replicate these findings but also determine if the integration of CRP into other diagnosis-specific treatments can similarly reduce suicidal ideation and suicide attempts across patient subgroups and clinical settings."

Several authors disclosed ties to industry.

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted February 2024

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