Ten Years of Brief Intensive Trauma-Focused Treatment at PSYTREC: A Programmatic Narrative Review and Research Agenda: Ten Years of Brief Intensive Trauma-Focused Treatment at PSYTREC

Ad De Jongh; Suzy Matthijssen; Sjef Berendsen

doi:10.63175/tjts.82

Authors

Ad De Jongh Research Department, PSYTREC, Zeist, Netherlands https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6031-9708
Suzy Matthijssen Research Department, PSYTREC, Zeist, Netherlands https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5537-112X
Sjef Berendsen Research Department, PSYTREC, Zeist, Netherlands https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4570-9557

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63175/tjts.82

Keywords:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Intensive Trauma-Focused Treatment, Prolonged Exposure, EMDR Therapy, Treatment Intensification

Abstract

Since its establishment in 2015, psychotrauma expertise centre PSYTREC has developed and evaluated brief intensive trauma-focused treatment programs for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD), with a more recent extension to personality disorders. This programmatic narrative review summarizes ten years of research conducted within and around the PSYTREC treatment program. The research program has examined clinical outcomes of highly concentrated treatment combining established trauma-focused interventions, particularly prolonged exposure (PE) and EMDR therapy, within a structured multidisciplinary context; whether presumed complicating factors, including dissociation, emotion regulation difficulties, childhood sexual abuse, and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms, are associated with poorer outcome; and how treatment delivery can be refined. Across predominantly naturalistic and uncontrolled studies, brief intensive trauma-focused treatment was associated with substantial within-group reductions in PTSD symptoms, low observed dropout in many cohorts, and substantial diagnostic remission, including among eligible patients in groups traditionally considered difficult to treat. In studies that explicitly monitored adverse events or deterioration, no clear safety signal was reported. These findings provide evidence regarding feasibility and clinical outcomes but, in the absence of control conditions in most studies, do not establish causal efficacy or comparative superiority. Future research should prioritize independent controlled replication, direct comparison with standard-frequency treatment, and longer follow-up.

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Ten Years of Brief Intensive Trauma-Focused Treatment at PSYTREC: A Programmatic Narrative Review and Research Agenda