Effective psychotherapeutic treatments for battered women with posttraumatic stress disorder

The aim of this article is the analysis of available treatments for battered women who present PTSD, whose efficacy have been put to the test. The applied strategy consisted of a bibliographic search of the available studies in the Medline, EBSCO and Lilacs database. Besides, reference bibliography has been consulted. Three approach models were found, supported by a scarce number of studies. Unfortunately none of these models was investigated by independent researchers, limiting the results conclusive power. Nevertheless, the results suggest that Cognitive Therapy for Trauma in Battered Women would be established as treatment of choice. Clinical implications as well as limitations for the generalization of the obtained results, are discussed.