Examining well‐being in posttraumatic stress disorder treatment: An explorative study

Although the importance of well‐being in mental health is widely acknowledged, well‐being as a predictor of and outcome in the treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has received little attention. This naturalistic study aimed to investigate well‐being in the context of care‐as‐usual treatment for PTSD. Patients with PTSD attending a community mental health center (N = 318) completed measures of well‐being and PTSD symptoms before and after symptom‐focused treatment. Following treatment, well‐being increased among patients with PTSD, with emotional, d = −0.25, and psychological well‐being, d = ‐0.24, showing the largest improvements relative to social well‐being, d = −0.15. Although levels of well‐being improved overall within the sample, participant scores on measures of well‐being remained low compared with the general population. Well‐being predicted treatment efficiency such that participants with more severe PTSD symptoms benefitted more from care‐as‐usual treatment when they reported relatively high levels of well‐being at the start of treatment. The findings suggest a benefit to including well‐being as a pretreatment and outcome variable when evaluating PTSD treatments.