Prolonged exposure för tonåringar – en litteraturöversikt

Sammanfattning: Teenagers are at high risk of being exposed to traumatic events and developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This literature study evaluates the evidence for one of the treatment protocols, Prolonged Exposure for Adolecescents (PE-A), as well as looking at the clinical implications of the studies that have been done. Reviews in databases resulted in nine articles, four of them were randomized controlled studies (RCTs) and five were clinical studies without control group (non-RCTs). The RCTs were evaluated with the Cochrane Risk of bias Tool and RCT of Psychotherapy Quality Rating Scale. Non-RCTs were evaluated using four aspects: relevance, selection bias, weakness in design, and the possibility to generalize the results to clinical situations. The result of all four RCTs showed that PE-A has a good effect and that it is better than the treatments compared with. All four RCTs were considered being of good quality. The non-RCTs showed similar results but were of varied scientific quality. The conclusion of this literature study is that PE-A has a good effect treating teenagers with PTSD and that the studies that have been done are of sufficient quality to say that PE-A should be recommended as treatment for teenagers. The most important clinical implication was that PE-A should be considered as first choice treatment for adolescent PTSD together with Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT). Future research will have to compare the interventions with promising evidence, mainly TF-CBT and PE-A. Studies also need to show what interventions work best for which groups of patients.