Psychiatric News (11/21) reported a study suggests that “for every 22 soldiers who receive an intervention designed to modify their attention bias prior to deployment, one case of postcombat PTSD could be prevented.” For the study, “501 male combat-bound Israeli soldiers received one of the three interventions during their basic training.” Researchers observed that “one year after study participants were exposed to combat, fewer than 1% of those who received response-time-based attention bias training self-reported PTSD symptoms significant enough to be considered probable PTSD. By comparison, 2.7% of soldiers who received an eye-tracking-based attention intervention and 5.3 % who received a sham intervention reported probable PTSD.” Researchers noted that “the difference between the response-time intervention and sham was statistically significant, with a number-needed-to-treat estimate of 22.” The study was published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Could Cognitive Training Before Deployment Prevent PTSD in Soldiers?, Psychiatric News, November 21, 2025