Advances in the Treatment of PTSD: A Review of Conventional and Emerging Therapies

Guo Cheng

doi:10.54254/2753-7048/2025.NS27630

Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public MediaOpen access

Advances in the Treatment of PTSD: A Review of Conventional and Emerging Therapies

Research Article

Open Access

Advances in the Treatment of PTSD: A Review of Conventional and Emerging Therapies

Guo Cheng ^1*

¹ Shenzhen University

^*Corresponding author: chengguo20231007@163.com

Published on 14 October 2025

LNEP Vol.123

ISSN (Print): 2753-7056

ISSN (Online): 2753-7048

ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-401-4

ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-402-1

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Abstract

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder triggered by experiencing a major traumatic event, which may have long-term effects on a patient's emotions, cognition, and social functioning. In recent years, treatment methods for PTSD have continued to evolve. Traditional treatments primarily include pharmacological interventions such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), as well as cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies like Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). While these methods have shown some efficacy, they still face limitations such as limited therapeutic effects and high relapse rates. With the deepening of research, emerging methods such as ketamine and MDMA-assisted therapy have gradually gained attention and shown promising results in some clinical studies. Meanwhile, explorations at the neural mechanism level have provided new insights into the underlying principles of different treatment approaches. This paper comprehensively reviews the current mainstream treatments and research progress in PTSD, and provides an initial outlook on the future development direction of individualized and integrated treatments, aiming to provide references for subsequent research and clinical practice.

Keywords:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, MDMA-Assisted psychotherapy

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References

[1]. Hassan, S. (2022). Psychopharmacotherapy of PTSD. NeuroPsychopharmacotherapy, 4141–4151. https: //doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62059-2_395

[2]. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

[13]. Liriano, F., Hatten, C., & Schwartz, T. L. (2019). Ketamine as treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder: A review. Drugs in Context, 8, 1–7. https: //doi.org/10.7573/dic.212305

[18]. Turman, M. L., Olden, M., Emrich, M., & Difede, J. (2024). Virtual reality exposure therapy. In Springer EBooks (pp. 63–84). https: //doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72720-7_4

[19]. Matten, S. J., & Pausch, M. J. (2024). EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). In Springer EBooks (pp. 139–140). https: //doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-45432-6_17

[21]. Fernandez, I., Gallina, E., & Solomon, R. (2024). Trauma resolution: A healing journey through EMDR therapy. In Springer EBooks (pp. 343–378). https: //doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71904-2_16

Cite this article

Cheng,G. (2025). Advances in the Treatment of PTSD: A Review of Conventional and Emerging Therapies. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,123,63-69.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Volume title: Proceedings of ICILLP 2025 Symposium: Psychological Perspectives on Teacher-Student Relationships in Educational Contexts

ISBN: 978-1-80590-401-4(Print) / 978-1-80590-402-1(Online)

Editor: Renuka Thakore, Abdullah Laghari

Conference website: https://2025.icillp.org/Nawabshah.html

Conference date: 17 October 2025

Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media

Volume number: Vol.123

ISSN: 2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

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