Ad de Jongh backs intensive PTSD
- Dutch trauma researcher Ad de Jongh pointed to a new meta-analysis finding that trauma-focused PTSD therapy can work well at higher weekly intensity, if clinicians tailor pacing and session structure. - The review found outcomes improved as treatment intensity rose to roughly 270 minutes a week, while completion rates did not worsen across guideline-based PTSD therapies in the pooled data. - That fits current PTSD guidelines, which still prioritize trauma-focused psychotherapy such as prolonged exposure, cognitive processing therapy, and EMDR over medication. (va.gov)
Post-traumatic stress disorder treatment usually means revisiting traumatic memories in structured therapy, and a new meta-analysis says doing more of that work per week can still help. (sciencedirect.com) Ad de Jongh, a Dutch PTSD researcher known for work on intensive trauma treatment, highlighted the paper after it was published in April 2026 in *Clinical Psychology Review*. (scholar.google.com) (sciencedirect.com) The study examined dosage and intensity in guideline-recommended trauma-focused treatments for PTSD, asking whether more minutes per week changed symptom improvement, depression outcomes, or dropout. (sciencedirect.com) The answer was not that “more is always better.” The review reported the strongest gains around 270 minutes a week, or about 4.5 hours, rather than simply cramming standard care into fewer days. (sciencedirect.com) That matters because first-line PTSD care already centers on trauma-focused psychotherapy: prolonged exposure, cognitive processing therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR. (va.gov) The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense guideline updated in 2023 recommends those psychotherapies over medication for most adults with PTSD. (va.gov) De Jongh’s own recent research has tested condensed formats in real clinics. A 2025 study of 74 patients ages 12 to 25 found 65% no longer met PTSD criteria one month after a six-day outpatient program combining prolonged exposure and EMDR. (nih.gov) That adolescent and young-adult study also reported a 4% dropout rate and no adverse events or symptom worsening during treatment. (nih.gov) Earlier work from De Jongh and colleagues in adults with complex PTSD reported substantial symptom drops after an eight-day intensive program, with no suicides, suicide attempts, or hospital admissions during treatment. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The new meta-analysis does not mean every patient should be put into a high-intensity schedule. It supports clinician-led decisions about pace, dose, and tolerance inside treatments that already have evidence behind them. (sciencedirect.com) For clinics trying to shorten waitlists or build intensive programs, the paper adds evidence that PTSD treatment can be delivered in bigger weekly blocks without automatically sacrificing results. (sciencedirect.com)
