Supportive and Insight-Oriented Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in an Adult Male Survivor of Sexual Assault

Abstract

This is a single case study of a middle-aged man with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified following sexual assault as an adult. Treatment consisted of supportive psychodynamic psychotherapy, focusing on reintegrating the patient into his community, followed by insight-oriented psychodynamic psychotherapy with an emphasis on processing trauma and decreasing PTSD and dissociative symptoms. Daily subjective, self-report measures were used to track his symptoms over a 29-month period. Simulation Modeling Analysis for time-series was utilized to assess the phase change from pretreatment baseline phase to total treatment phase and also between supportive psychotherapy phase and insight-oriented psychotherapy phase. Symptoms tracked included overall distress, preoccupation with the trauma, and dissociation. All symptoms significantly improved from the pretreatment baseline phase to the total treatment phase. Overall distress and preoccupation with the trauma significantly improved from the supportive to the insight-oriented psychotherapy phase.