Narrative Reconstruction as an Intervention for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Pilot Delayed Intervention Quasi-Randomized Controlled Trial

Although empirically supported treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exist, many patients fail to complete therapy, are nonresponsive, or remain symptomatic following treatment. This paper presents the results of a delayed intervention quasi-randomized controlled study that evaluated the efficacy of narrative reconstruction as an integrative intervention for PTSD. During narrative reconstruction, the patient and therapist reconstruct an organized, coherent, and detailed written narrative of the patient's traumatic experience. Additionally, narrative reconstruction focuses on arriving at the subjective meaning of the traumatic experience for the patient as related to their personal history. Thus, the therapist asks the patient about associations between the traumatic event and other memories and life events. In the present study, 30 participants with PTSD were randomly assigned to an immediate (n = 17) or delayed (n = 13) 15-session narrative reconstruction intervention. Participants in the immediate narrative reconstruction group were evaluated using self-report measures and structured interviews at baseline, posttreatment, and 15-week follow-up. Participants in the delayed narrative reconstruction group were evaluated at baseline, postwaitlist/pretreatment, and posttreatment assessments. Data from the pretreatment evaluation showed no significant differences between groups. Mixed linear models showed significant intervention effects for posttraumatic symptom severity, d = 1.17, from pre- to posttreatment. Although preliminary, these promising findings suggest that narrative reconstruction may be an effective standalone therapy or an add-on to current effective treatment strategies.