Brief Exposure Therapy With Exercise For PTSD: A Pilot Study Using Single Case Experimental Design
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Background: Trauma-focused exposure therapies are highly effective treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but important limitations exist. Animal and human research collectively indicate that aerobic exercise can improve the consolidation of fear-extinction memories, suggesting exercise could enhance therapeutic exposure. Methods: The current study is an open-label pilot clinical trial using a community sample (n=6) of adults with PTSD to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of an eight-session brief exposure therapy (BET) and aerobic exercise treatment for PTSD. The acceptability and feasibility were examined through participants’ perceptions of treatment, engagement with treatment, and therapists' adherence to the treatment protocol. We used a staggered baseline single-case experimental design (SCED), with visual and quantitative analyses, to evaluate the intervention's preliminary effects on PTSD symptom severity. Results: The BET and exercise protocol was rated as an acceptable treatment that led to greater improvements than they originally expected. During treatment, only one session was late canceled (2% of all sessions), zero sessions had no-shows, and zero participants dropped out of treatment. Visual Analysis indicated a significant effect of the BET and exercise treatment on PTSD symptom severity from baseline to treatment and follow-up phases. Conclusion: Findings indicate that eight sessions of brief imaginal exposure combined with exercise is an acceptable and feasible treatment that has the potential to quickly and significantly reduce PTSD symptoms. These data add to a growing body of literature indicating exposure and exercise treatments have great promise. Future research should evaluate augmenting safety learning with exercise in well-powered, double-blind clinical trials.
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7161686696