Treatment Outcomes for Adolescents Versus Adults Receiving Cognitive Processing Therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder During Community Training

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a gold-standard treatment for adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, adolescents may also benefit from CPT, particularly when existing evidence-based treatments for adolescents are unavailable or not a good fit. In this program evaluation study, community-based therapists participating in training delivered a modular version of CPT to 32 adolescents (age range: 14–17 years) and 174 adults recruited at their sites (overall sample: 81.1% female, 59.7% White, 31.6% Black, 21.6% Hispanic, 2.9% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 1.9% Asian, and 9.7% other race). The same protocol was used for adolescents as adults. Treatment outcomes, including treatment completion status, number of sessions needed, and PTSD and depression symptom change, were compared between groups. In total, 47.1% of adults versus 71.9% of adolescents completed treatment. Among completers, there was no between-group difference in the number of attended sessions, RR = 1.04, 95% CI [0.88, 1.23], p =.576. Overall, in the full intent-to-treat sample (i.e., completers and noncompleters), large symptom reductions were observed for PTSD, b = −3.27, SE = 0.17, p <.001, d = 1.22; and depression, b = −0.82, SE = 0.07, p <.001, d = 0.84. There were no differences in the rate of change for adolescents versus adults regarding PTSD, b = −0.15, SE = 0.48, p =.759; or depression, b = −0.20, SE = 0.14, p =.181. These findings suggest that CPT is a viable treatment option for adolescents, who benefited from treatment and completed treatment at a high rate.