A recent study shows that about one in five patients released from intensive care will develop symptoms of PTSD during the first year after ICU, such as flashbacks, trouble sleeping or nightmares. While surviving serious illness is great, being left with new psychological symptoms is quite unfortunate.

As these symptoms are often discussed with general practitioners (GPs) rather than mental health professionals, the new PICTURE study by Gensinchen et al. (2025, co-authored by Ulf-Dietrich Reips) investigates the effectiveness of a short-term variant of narrative exposure therapy conducted by GPs. The results of this randomized control trial paint the picture of a very promising new intervention! Read the article yourself here: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-082092 or get an overview in one of the media posts about this study by the LMU Munich or BMJ Group.