Treating post-traumatic stress disorder online: uncertain evidence for internet-delivered cognitive and behavioural therapies

SUMMARY Internet-delivered cognitive and/or behavioural therapy (I-C/BT) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) addresses problems of access to evidence-based psychological treatments and is becoming more widespread. This commentary explores the effectiveness of I-C/BT for PTSD compared with waiting-list/treatment as usual controls as reported in Simon et al’s (2021) Cochrane Review and in subsequent studies. The results suggest that I-C/BT may reduce PTSD symptoms immediately post-treatment, without long-term effects. However, the very low certainty of evidence and inconsistent quality of I-C/BT interventions prohibits recommendations until further high-quality research becomes available.