Logotherapy as an Adjunctive Treatment for Chronic Combat-related PTSD: A Meaning-based Intervention

Combat-related Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is often highly debilitating and affects nearly all areas of psychosocial functioning. Veterans with PTSD re-experience their traumas in the form of haunting intrusive memories, nightmares and flashbacks, and have chronic difficulty modulating arousal. As a way to cope with these symptoms, many survivors live isolated and avoidant lives, self-medicate with alcohol and substances of abuse, and numb themselves to emotional experiences and relationships with family and friends. Additionally, many combat veterans report survivor guilt, depression, affect dysregulation, and an altered world view in which fate is seen as uncontrollable and life is viewed as devoid of meaning. In this report we describe the use of logotherapy (healing through meaning) for the treatment of combat-related PTSD