The present study examines the effectiveness of an online standardized
treatment of posttraumatic stress and pathological grief administered
through the Internet. Twenty students who had experienced traumatic life
events and showed the symptoms of posttraumatic stress participated in the
study. They received credit course points for inclusion in the
research. Treatment consisted of 10 writing sessions (45 minutes each)
during a period of 5 weeks. Participants were assessed at pretreatment,
posttreatment, and after six weeks (follow-up). The participants improved
strongly from pre- to post-treatment on posttraumatic stress and
pathological grief symptoms and in psychological functioning. These
improvements were sustained during the follow-up period. Moreover, 19 of
the 20 participants were clinically recovered after treatment. The changes
in posttraumatic stress symptomatology were compared post hoc to changes in
control and experimental groups from trials on similarly protocolled but
face-to-face treatment of posttraumatic stress.
