Development of a group treatment for enhancing motivation to change PTSD symptoms

Readiness to change, particularly ambivalence or lack of awareness about the need to change, is a modifiable variable that may underlie poor posttreatment outcome found in some studies of combat veterans with PTSD. The authors describe the PTSD Motivation Enhancement (ME) Group, a manualized brief treatment that is conceptually based on the Stages of Change and draws on interventions from the literature on Motivational Interviewing techniques. The PTSD ME Group targets any PTSD symptom or related problem behavior (e.g., anger, hypervigilance, owning weapons, depression, and substance use) that patients report ambivalence about changing or feel no need to change. The goal of the group is to help patients make decisions about the need to change any behaviors, coping styles, or beliefs not previously recognized as problematic. Although definitive statements about the effectiveness of the group await controlled trials, initial findings indicate that patients are responding to the group as predicted. Further research will test the hypothesis that addition of the PTSD ME Group to a PTSD treatment program is associated with better learning, practice, and implementation of coping skills, which, in turn, should predict better posttreatment functioning.