Symptom self-monitoring in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder

Patients suffering from chronic PTSD were recruited into a study in which t hey had to monitor and record in a diary their intrusive systems on a daily basis for 4 weeks. Assessments were carried out before and after monitorin g. Seventeen patients dropped out of the study during the monitoring period , 12 patients no longer met criterion for PTSD, and 72 were still cases at the second assessment. A comparison of improvers, cases, and dropouts indic ated that improvers scored significantly lower on all assessment measures p rior to monitoring, and were more likely to be employed than the other two groups. Improvements made over the monitoring period were discussed.