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8-day Intensive Treatment Programme for PTSD and CPTSD in Sweden
Sponsor: Christina Blomdahl
Summary
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) are conditions that may develop after a person has been exposed to extremely stressful experiences. The affected individual re-experiences the event despite attempts to avoid reminders of the experience and also experiences heightened tension. In C-PTSD, the individual also experiences significantly impaired ability to regulate emotions, severe negative change in self-image, and difficulty maintaining close relationships. Traditional trauma-focused psychotherapy for PTSD typically involves one session per week over approximately 6-12 months. Intensive treatment models for both PTSD and C-PTSD have been developed and have shown promising results, with lower dropout rate from treatment compared to traditional treatments. The current project aims to compare the outcomes of an 8-day intensive treatment programme with treatment in a traditional format. Individuals with C-PTSD or PTSD who have not benefited from previous treatment attempts are included in the study. Participants are allocated to the respective treatment group according to principles of person-centered care, where participants are considered competent to make an informed choice of treatment method. Diagnostic assessment and self-rating of symptoms of PTSD and C-PTSD are conducted before and after treatment, as well as at 3-month follow-up. The study is expected to provide increased knowledge on whether 8-day intensive treatment is a suitable alternative to treatment in a traditional format for PTSD and C-PTSD. The study is also expected to provide important data for considering whether 8-day intensive treatment should be widely implemented in Swedish psychiatry.
Official title: Evaluation of an 8-day Intensive Treatment Programme for PTSD and CPTSD in the Swedish Mental Health Care
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
118
Start Date
2021-08-01
Completion Date
2026-12-30
Last Updated
2025-06-27
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
Intensive treatment programme
Intervention Group: 8-day intensive treatment where each treatment day consists of the following schedule: Physical activity: 30 minutes Prolonged Exposure (PE): 90 minutes Physical activity: 30 minutes Lunch Physical activity: 60 minutes Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): 90 minutes Physical activity: 30 minutes (omitted on days 4 and 8) Dinner Psychoeducation (omitted on days 4 and 8) Participants stay at the SÄS patient hotel during the treatment (with a three-day weekend break between treatment days 1-4 and 5-8). The treatment concept includes therapist rotation, meaning that participants switch therapists between PE and EMDR sessions. The purpose of this is to increase focus on the processing process rather than the relationship between the therapist and the client.
Treatment as Usual (TAU)
Control group: 16 treatment sessions (90 minutes in duration) either Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) or Prolonged Exposure (PE) in a standard outpatient format-weekly sessions. Participants can choose to attend 6 sessions of Psychoeducation for PTSD in a group format before starting EMDR or PE.
Locations (1)
Södra Älvsborgs Sjukhus, Västra Götalandsregion
Borås, Sweden