Preventative Psychosocial Interventions Following Traumatic Physical Injury: Who, What, When?

ABSTRACT

Kornør et al. [1] reviewed the results of studies comparing early trauma-focused cognitive-behavioural therapy (TFCBT) with supportive counselling (SC) in people identified as being at risk of developing traumatic stress related symptoms. They suggest that their results provide some evidence for the relative benefit of TFCBT in preventing chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and related symptoms. We question the extent to which this conclusion applies to the subgroup of people who have experienced traumatic physical injuries. Our systematic review of the efficacy of psychosocial interventions for preventing the onset of disability in people who had experienced traumatic physical injuries emphasizes the equivocal nature of current research, notes some negative outcomes and cautions for very careful monitoring of such interventions should they be used. There is a need for further high quality research exploring the optimal timing and nature of such interventions, as well as who is most likely to benefit from them.