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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Postdisaster Distress: A Community Based Treatment Program for Survivors of Hurricane Katrina

Abstract:

Many disaster survivors suffer from postdisaster distress regardless of whether or not they meet criteria for specific psychiatric diagnoses. Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Postdisaster Distress (CBT-PD), a ten-session manualized intervention, was developed to address a range of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions to disaster. Trained community-based therapists provided CBT-PD to adult survivors of Hurricane Katrina as part of InCourage, a program sponsored by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. Participants (n = 88) who were assessed at referral, pretreatment, intermediate treatment, and posttreatment showed significant and large improvements. The overall pre-post effect size was 1.4 in intention-to-treat analyses. Improvements were comparable for persons with more severe distress and persons with moderate distress at referral. Benefits were maintained at follow-up for the 66 adults who have been assessed.

Publication Information

Full Citation:

Hamblen, Jessica L., Fran H. Norris, Siobhan Pietruszkiewicz, Laura E. Gibson, April Naturale, and Claudine Louis. 2009. "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Postdisaster Distress: A Community Based Treatment Program for Survivors of Hurricane Katrina." Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services 36 (May): 206-214. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19365725/

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