Patients need to remain in treatment for PTSD to receive the full benefit

Despite strong evidence to support trauma-focused treatment as the gold standard in treating PTSD, many studies report elevated drop-out rates. The study by Holmes et al. (2019) examines temporal patterns of treatment non-completion and reported individuals who improved at a greater rate attended all sessions. This commentary discusses some of the factors that contribute to premature termination, including treatment modality (e.g., exposure-based), barriers to care, treatment format, motivation, treatment resistance, and lack of multimodal assessments. Future investigations comparing individual differences in response to treatment would allow for the examination of characteristics that facilitate or impede treatment response.