Kathryn L. Bleiberg This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. United Press International - Consumer Health - Caregiving: New PTSD therapy

   www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDail - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/30/2006   Last Visited: 3/31/2006

   The gold standard for treating PTSD has been exposure therapy -- the patient tells his or her story over and over again after exposure to reminders of the triggering traumatic event, according to Kathryn L. Bleiberg, an instructor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and professional associate at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell in New York City.
   
   However, revisiting dreadful events can be painful, and it might keep some PTSD patients from seeking therapy, Bleiberg said.
   
   "Many patients also suffer from interpersonal dysfunction -- a lot of these traumas are interpersonal traumas and with PTSD people have difficulty trusting. They are overly on guard, overly self-protective, emotionally hard to connect and it's hard to have relationships," Bleiberg told Caregiving.
   
   "A lot see themselves as damaged; they can be easily angered and have difficulty getting along with people."
   
   John C. Markowitz, clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, and Bleiberg examined the effectiveness of interpersonal psychotherapy, or IPT, a form of talk therapy that focuses "not on the past trauma, but on dysfunctional relationships in the here-and-now" and PTSD.
   ...
   "With IPT, we focus on rebuilding relationships," Bleiberg said. "What we did was adapt this for PTSD -- it seemed intuitive."
   
   In the pilot study 14 subjects were treated by IPT over a period of 14 weeks. The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, found that at the end of the 14-week therapy, 12 of the 14 participants no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.
   
   "In our treatment, we focus on helping the subjects to better cope and function in their relationships," said Bleiberg.