caa a22 4500 606203656 CHVBK 20210128100958.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150301xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10484-015-9268-y doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10484-015-9268-y Breathing Biofeedback as an Adjunct to Exposure in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Hastens the Reduction of PTSD Symptoms: A Pilot Study [Elektronische Daten] [A. Rosaura Polak, Anke Witteveen, Damiaan Denys, Miranda Olff] Although trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) with exposure is an effective treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), not all patients recover. Addition of breathing biofeedback to exposure in TF-CBT is suggested as a promising complementary technique to improve recovery of PTSD symptoms. Patients (n=8) with chronic PTSD were randomized to regular TF-CBT or TF-CBT with complementary breathing biofeedback to exposure. PTSD symptoms were measured before, during and after TF-CBT with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. The results show that breathing biofeedback is feasible and can easily be complemented to TF-CBT. Although PTSD symptoms significantly decreased from pre to post treatment in both conditions, there was a clear trend towards a significantly faster (p=.051) symptom reduction in biofeedback compared to regular TF-CBT. The most important limitation was the small sample size. The hastened clinical improvement in the biofeedback condition supports the idea that breathing biofeedback may be an effective complementary component to exposure in PTSD patients. The mechanism of action of breathing biofeedback may relate to competing working memory resources decreasing vividness and emotionality, similar to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Future research is needed to examine this. The Author(s), 2015 Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) nationallicence Breathing biofeedback nationallicence Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) nationallicence Working memory nationallicence Rosaura Polak A. Department of Anxiety Disorders, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut Witteveen Anke Department of Anxiety Disorders, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut Denys Damiaan Department of Anxiety Disorders, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut Olff Miranda Department of Anxiety Disorders, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 40/1(2015-03-01), 25-31 1090-0586 40:1<25 2015 40 10484 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-015-9268-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-015-9268-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Rosaura Polak A. Department of Anxiety Disorders, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Witteveen Anke Department of Anxiety Disorders, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Denys Damiaan Department of Anxiety Disorders, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Olff Miranda Department of Anxiety Disorders, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 40/1(2015-03-01), 25-31 1090-0586 40:1<25 2015 40 10484