Exposure Therapy for Chronic PTSD: Efficacy and Mechanisms

NCT00475241 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: PHASE2/PHASE3 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 36

Last updated 2019-02-15

Study results available
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Summary

The goals of the proposed research are to produce preliminary evidence of PE with OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD and to examine cognitive, psychophysiological, and neuroendocrine mechanisms of change in PTSD treatment. In brief, 36 OEF/OIF veterans with chronic PTSD or PTSS of at least 3 months duration will be randomly assigned to 15 sessions of either PE or TAU (see below for descriptions of the interventions). All veterans will receive psychobiological assessments at pre treatment, mid treatment, post treatment, 3 months, and 6 months follow-up. Each of these assessments will cover in 2 sessions on separate days and will include interview and self-report of symptoms (i.e., PTSD, depression, and general anxiety severity), self-report of PTSD-related cognitions, psychophysiological (i.e., heart rate, skin conductance, respiration, and end-tidal CO2) assessment during neutral and trauma scripts, and assessment of salivary cortisol during neutral and trauma scripts. Also, on the morning prior to each laboratory assessment, patients will collect salivary cortisol at the moment of waking and 30 and 45 minutes post-walking. In addition to these assessments, patients assigned to PE will collect salivary cortisol during three imaginal exposure sessions (sessions 3, 9, and 15).

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Prolonged Exposure therapy for PTSD

exposure-based treatment for PTSD

BEHAVIORAL

Present centered therapy for PTSD

present focused coping and problem solving for PTSD

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • VA Office of Research and Development

    lead FED

Principal Investigators

  • Sheila Rauch, PhD · VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2008-01-31
Primary Completion
2010-07-31
Completion
2010-07-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00475241 on ClinicalTrials.gov