Background: A psychophysiologic method previously validated in Vietnam veterans was used to evaluate the responses of medication-free Israeli posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients to script-driven imagery, before and after treatment with systematic desensitization.
Method: Skin conductance, heart rate, and frontalis EMG responses during imagery of traumatic events were assessed in three unmedicated Israeli PTSD patients. The t test of significance was used to compare the magnitude of the response to traumatic imagery with that of responses to imagery of nine other events.
Results: The elevated physiologic responses to traumatic imagery, observed before treatment, normalized after systematic desensitization. Imagery of traumata that were not treated by desensitization continued to produce elevated responses.
Conclusion: Physiologic response during traumatic imagery may be useful in the evaluation of differential treatment outcome in PTSD.