Chronic PTSD Treated With Metacognitive Therapy: An Open Trial
Section snippets
Participants
All patients were recruited from a clinical psychology waiting list of referrals made by doctors or psychiatrists. First, the waiting list was screened for patients referred for emotional problems following trauma. In order to identify potential chronic cases, only those patients for whom the trauma had occurred at least 3 months earlier were considered appropriate. Twenty-three patients were identified as potential chronic cases and were offered assessments, from which 19 attended for an
Results
Of the 13 patients initially entering treatment, 11 completed treatment and 2 dropped out (i.e., failed to attend two subsequent sessions), with no reason given. Among the 11 completers, a range of 3 to 15 sessions were delivered (mean: 8.5). Two of the completers were retraumatized during follow-up. These traumas consisted of being physically attacked by intruders at home, and being threatened with a weapon during a robbery. Another completer was retraumatized at the beginning of treatment
Discussion
The present open trial was intended as a preliminary investigation of whether MCT is associated with recovery or improvement in symptoms when applied in the treatment of chronic PTSD. Patients treated had experienced consistent symptoms for 6 to 39 months (mean: 19.5) before commencing treatment.
Posttreatment and follow-up scores on all self-report and assessor ratings showed statistically significant improvements in specific PTSD symptoms and in more general measures of anxiety and depression.
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