Acceptance and Commitment Group Therapy for Adolescents With a Range of Functional Somatic Syndromes

Summary

Background:

An increasing number of adolescents report recurrent functional somatic symptoms. Some experience persistent symptoms and may receive functional somatic syndromes (FSS) diagnoses (i.e. symptoms not attributable to any known conventionally defined physical disease), characterised by severe disability and reduced quality of life.

The aim of this study is to:

1. Develop an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based group intervention for adolescents with severe FSS (conceptualized as Bodily Distress Syndrome (BDS), see detailed description).
2. Examine the efficacy of group based ACT in adolescents (aged 15-19 years) with severe FSS.

The ACT-based treatment, with 9 sessions of group therapy and one follow up meeting is compared to standard treatment/enhanced usual care, which is one single advisory consultation.

The study includes approximately 120 patients.

Conditions

• Somatization Disorder
• Somatoform Disorders

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

All patients will have a thorough clinical psychiatric and somatic assessment in order to determine eligibility and a psychiatric consultation (SPC) of 1-1½ hrs. duration approx. 2 weeks after randomization. The ACT treatment is manualized and given in groups of 7-8 patients with 9 3-hour sessions (i.e. 27 hours in total) over a period of 3 months and one follow up meeting (3 hours) three months after end of treatment. The parents and other relevant close relatives (e.g. siblings, boy/girlfriends) to the patient participate in a workshop where ACT principles are applied. One individual consultation with the adolescent and parents will be offered at the end of 8 sessions of group therapy.

OTHER

Enhanced Usual Care (EUC)

All patients will have a thorough clinical psychiatric and somatic assessment in order to determine eligibility and a psychiatric consultation (SPC) of 1-1½ hrs. duration approx. 2 weeks after randomization. The consultation is according to a manual and includes psycho-education related to the diagnosis of multiorgan BDS, health promoting recommendations and counselling regarding existing medicine or other treatment. An individualized treatment plan will be sent to the patient's general practitioner, to optimize management in primary care and support by social services.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Karolinska University Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Aarhus University Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Aarhus

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Charlotte U Rask, MD, PhD · Research Clinic for Functional Disorders and Psychosomatics, Aarhus University Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

15 Years

Max Age

19 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-01-30

Primary Completion

2019-11-13

Completion

2019-11-21

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations