Trauma-focused CBT Versus EMDR in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

VU University of Amsterdam

Status: Completed

Conditions: Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Treatments: Behavioral: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR); Behavioral: Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00716638

2008-KP-343

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy (TF-CBT) versus eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) in the treatment of trauma survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Patients will be randomly assigned to TF-CBT or EMDR. Follow-up assessments will be conducted at 3 and 12 months post-treatment. In addition to comparing the efficacy of the two protocols, an additional focus will lie on identifying predictors for treatment outcome.

Enrollment: 30 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 70 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• A full diagnosis of PTSD according to the DSM-IV or subthreshold PTSD (criteria for intrusive re-experiencing are fulfilled and either three avoidance/numbing symptoms or two hyperarousal symptoms are present)
• PTSD is related to one or more single-event traumas and participants have a clear memory of this event/these events (sufficient for constructing scenes to be used in exposure)
• Age between 18 and 70
• Sufficient fluency in Dutch to complete treatment and research protocol
• If participants are using anti-depressants, they need to be on a stable dose for at least 2 weeks before the beginning of treatment and remain on this dose throughout the treatment.

Exclusion criteria

• Dementia or other severe cognitive impairment
• Psychosis
• Depression with suicidal ideation
• Bipolar disorder
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Anti-social personality disorder
• Substance dependence
• Current use of tranquilizers
• Exposure to prolonged and/or chronic trauma ("type-II-trauma")

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

30 participants in 2 patient groups

Treatment group 1

Experimental group

Description:

Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT)

Treatment:

Behavioral: Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Treatment group 2

Experimental group

Description:

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Treatment:

Behavioral: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)