Changes in posttraumatic stress symptoms, cognitions, and depression during treatment of traumatized youth

Although there is compelling evidence that trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is an effective treatment for traumatized youth, we know less about the mechanisms contributing to symptom reduction. To improve the understanding of change mechanisms in TF-CBT, this paper investigates the possible bi-directional longitudinal relationship between changes in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), cognitions and depression in a clinical sample of traumatized youth.

The study includes 79 youth (M age = 15.0 years, SD = 2.2, 74.7% girls) who received TF-CBT. The youth were assessed for PTSS, posttraumatic cognitions, and depressive symptoms at baseline, mid-treatment, post-treatment, 12 months after baseline, and 18 months after post-treatment.

Growth curve analyses showed that PTSS, posttraumatic cognitions and depressive symptoms decreased over time. Cross-lagged mediation analyses demonstrated that reduction in posttraumatic cognitions predicted reduction in both PTSS and depression at the subsequent measurement wave, but we did not find a clear pattern in the longitudinal relationship between PTSS and depression.

Changes in posttraumatic cognitions mediate the therapeutic effects of TF-CBT on symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Future studies should seek to tease out how clinicians can best proceed to help youth reduce their posttraumatic cognitions and thereby improve treatment outcome.