Is the Group Traumatic Episode Protocol (G-TEP) Effective for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Following collective traumas, the need for mental health services to become accessible to a large number of people in a short time not only requires the effectiveness of psychological interventions but also their accessibility. Collective experiences such as natural disasters, wars, forced migration, epidemics and incidents of social violence pose a significant risk to public mental health because they affect multiple individuals simultaneously. Therefore, along with individual therapy, group therapy is becoming increasingly important in making mental health services accessible to more people at the same time. In this sense, it has been seen that applications have been carried out with different therapy schools such as cognitive behavioural therapy, exposure therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy. One such approach is G-TEP (Group Traumatic Episode), a group protocol developed based on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) that focuses directly on traumatic experiences. In this context, the aim of the present study is to examine the effectiveness of the G-TEP protocol applied to date in reducing PTSD symptoms using meta-analysis methods. According to this aim, a total of 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria were included in the meta-analysis. Considering the methodological and sample differences between the studies, a random effects model was used, and effect sizes were calculated using Hedges' g. The findings revealed that the G-TEP intervention was associated with a large effect size (g = 1.28) in reducing PTSD symptoms. These results support the G-TEP as a feasible and effective intervention option, particularly following collective traumas.