Group treatment for spouse abuse : Are women with PTSD appropriate participants ?

Evaluates the treatment outcomes of 27 women diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a group treatment program for 84 abused women & their husbands. Although PTSD diagnosis, itself, did not differentiate those women who dropped out of treatment, avoidance symptomatology significantly differentiated treatment completers from dropouts. Although women with PTSD began treatment in worse condition (lower marital satisfaction, higher depressive symptoms, & greater fear of spouse), postassessment revealed that they achieved positive treatment gains parallel to those of women without PTSD. Women with PTSD improved on each outcome variable measured, including a reduction in fear of spouse. Women with PTSD also did not differentially drop out of either treatment condition (men's/women's vs conjoint groups), which lends support to the appropriateness of conjoint treatment for spouse abuse. 2 Tables, 59 References.