Talk therapy helps Congolese victims of sexual violence recover

Group sessions work better than individual counseling

African women living in a war zone who have post-traumatic stress disorder from enduring or witnessing sexual violence are more apt to overcome it with group therapy than with private counseling, researchers report in the June 6 New England Journal of Medicine.

The approach, called cognitive processing therapy, encourages people with PTSD to reassess how they think about an event.