NCT01274741

Present- Versus Past-focused Therapy for PTSD and Substance Use Disorder

Pilot Study of an Integrated Exposure-Based Model for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Use Disorder

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 52 (actual)
• Sponsor: VA Boston Healthcare System · Federal
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study compares Creating Change, a new past-focused behavioral therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)/substance use disorder (SUD), to Seeking Safety, an evidence-based present-focused behavioral therapy for PTSD/SUD.

Detailed description

This study evaluates a new behavioral therapy model, Creating Change (CC) for PTSD/SUD. CC helps clients explore the past as a step in their recovery process. It has major public health relevance in that it is a low-cost, flexible model designed for all trauma and substance abuse types, both genders, and all clinical settings. It has particular relevance for VA in that many veterans suffer from PTSD and SUD. The new model demonstrated positive results in two pilot studies.

Conditions

• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Substance Use Disorder
• Alcohol Use Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Creating Change (CC)	Creating Change is a past-focused, integrated, cognitive-behavioral therapy for PTSD/SUD. It has 17 topics, which in this study were delivered in weekly one-hour sessions, in individual format. The treatment explores how PTSD and SUD arose and interacted across the patient's life, including constructing a narrative of its meaning, processing associated emotions and memories, and exploring themes related to these.
BEHAVIORAL	Seeking Safety (SS)	Seeking Safety is a present-focused, evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapy for integrated treatment of patients with PTSD/SUD. It is a cognitive-behavioral therapy comprising 25 topics, each a coping skill relevant to both disorders. In this study 17 of the 25 topics were conducted, one per weekly, one-hour, individual session.

Timeline

• Start date: 2011-01-01
• Primary completion: 2015-03-01
• Completion: 2015-03-01
• First posted: 2011-01-11
• Last updated: 2019-05-03

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States