The Surprising Efficacy of Alternative PTSD Treatments

Many people expect talk therapy to be the most effective way to heal trauma—after all, it helps us make sense of what happened. In reality, for PTSD it’s often underwhelming on its own: plenty of people feel somewhat better, yet many still have strong symptoms by the end of treatment. That doesn’t mean talk therapy isn’t valuable—it’s excellent for building insight, coping skills, relationship tools, and support, and it can be essential alongside medical care, particularly in times of crisis.

But trauma also lives in the body’s fast, wordless alarm system, so methods that work with state and sensation (breath, nervous-system calming, gentle memory updating) are usually needed too. As you’ll see below, approaches that speak to both the mind and the body tend to deliver better recovery.

To illustrate this, let’s explore the efficacy of various alternative treatment methods for PTSD recovery, compared to traditional talk therapy.

First—what does “recovery” mean?

Most studies call someone “recovered” when they no longer meet PTSD criteria on a standard interview/checklist at the end of treatment (often ~4 months). Some studies only report symptom reduction (feeling better). I’ll flag that when it happens.

What do “talk therapies” usually achieve?

In military/veteran trials of the leading talk therapies—Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)—many people improve, but about 60–72% still meet PTSD criteria at the end of treatment. In other words, roughly 28–40% lose the diagnosis right away. A large head-to-head trial found PE and CPT both helped, with no clinically meaningful difference between them. Real-world clinics also report high dropout (about 31–50%). PubMed

MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT)

  • Two high-quality trials found many people no longer had PTSD a few months after MDMA-AT:
    • 2021: 67% lost the diagnosis vs 32% with therapy + placebo. Nature
    • 2023: 71.2% lost the diagnosis vs 47.6% with therapy + placebo. Nature

  • Regulatory note: As of Aug 9, 2024, the FDA did not approve MDMA-AT and asked for more evidence on safety/real-world use. ReutersMaps.org

How it compares to talk therapy: Short-term recovery (loss of diagnosis) with MDMA-AT (~67–71%) is higher than the ~28–40% typically seen after PE/CPT in military/veteran trials. PubMed

EFT tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques)

  • In a randomised veteran trial (six one-hour sessions), 86% no longer met PTSD criteria after 6 sessions (vs 4% on wait-list at that point); many kept gains at short follow-up. (Small study, but striking.) PubMed

  • Recent meta-analyses show large symptom drops vs waitlist/usual care; some reviewers call the evidence promising but limited and ask for larger independent trials. PMCFrontiers

How it compares to talk therapy: In the best-known EFT RCT, the loss-of-diagnosis rate (86%) was higher than typical PE/CPT recovery. Caution: studies are smaller and methods vary, so more rigorous trials are needed. PubMed

Art of Living breathing (Sudarshan Kriya Yoga / SKY)

  • A randomised study in U.S. veterans showed large PTSD symptom reductions and calmer physiology; benefits lasted up to 1 year for those followed. (This study didn’t report loss-of-diagnosis numbers.) PMC

  • A head-to-head trial found SKY was not inferior to CPT right after treatment and at 1-month follow-up for PTSD symptoms (CPT had some mood advantages at 1 year). Again, this focused on symptom change, not diagnostic remission. BMJ Open

How it compares to talk therapy: Short-term symptom relief with SKY was about as good as CPT in one trial. Because remission rates weren’t reported, we can’t say it beats talk therapy on full recovery yet. BMJ Open

Yoga Nidra (including iRest)

  • Pilot studies in VA settings suggest Yoga Nidra/iRest is safe and reduces symptoms (e.g., in women with military sexual trauma). These are early-stage studies and usually don’t provide loss-of-diagnosis numbers. PubMed

  • Broader yoga research also shows meaningful symptom drops versus education/wellness controls, but strong remission data for Yoga Nidra specifically are still limited. Veterans Affairs

How it compares to talk therapy: Looks helpful for symptoms and sleep/settling with low risk, but we don’t have solid remission percentages yet to claim superiority over PE/CPT. PubMed

Bottom line: Are these better than talk therapy for recovery?

  • Yes, for MDMA-AT (in the short term in trials): ~67–71% lost PTSD vs ~28–40% after PE/CPT in military/veteran RCTs. Regulators still want more safety/real-world data. Nature

  • Often yes, for EFT (in smaller trials): one RCT reported ~86% loss of diagnosis after just 6 sessions—higher than typical PE/CPT. But trial quality and size mean we need more big, independent studies. PubMed

  • SKY breathing and Yoga Nidra: strong symptom relief and nervous-system calming; non-inferior to CPT short-term for SKY in one trial. Not enough remission data yet to claim clear superiority on loss of diagnosis. BMJ

Why this matters: If “just talking” hasn’t led to recovery, it’s reasonable and evidence-based to start exploring complementary approaches.

Whilst Family Constellations has a limited but growing research body, and whilst Rapid Core Healing is so new it has little, both my personal experience and that I consistently experience with clients demonstrate to me irrefutably, that it is a safe, effective and powerful method of processing trauma, without risk of retraumatisation.

It changed my life, and now I love facilitating this work for others so that it can change theirs, too.