Comparing Imaginal Exposure and Imagery Rescripting in Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The outcome of trauma treatment (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD) may be influenced by which emotions that are predominant among current symptoms, e.g. fear, anger, guilt, shame. Different treatment procedures for processing traumatic memories may resolve different emotions. This study compares two different treatment procedures of working with trauma memories in PTSD treatment (namely, Imaginal Exposure and Imagery Rescripting) in order to test this.

Detailed Description
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The main objectives of this study are: To assess the relative efficacy of the two procedures in inpatient treatment for PTSD To assess whether the predominant emotions in the traumatic memories moderate the outcome of the different procedures To assess whether theory-derived constructs mediate outcome and whether the mediating relationships are different in the two treatments To provide a theoretical account of the two models To psychometrically evaluate 3 new measures

Official Title
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Comparing Imaginal Exposure (IE) and Imagery Rescripting and Reprocessing Therapy (IRRT) in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Conditions
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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Imaginal exposure
* Behavioral: Imagery rescripting


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: DSM-IV diagnosis of PTSD identified as primary diagnosis Accepts withdrawal of all psychotropic medication Exclusion Criteria: Extensive dissociative symptoms or current psychosis, Current suicidal risk, Extensive current substance or alcohol abuse, or Ongoing trauma

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 20 Years
Maximum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Active Comparator: Imaginal exposure<br> | Behavioral: Imaginal exposure<br>* 7 individual sessions of imaginal exposure of trauma memories according to the prolonged exposure treatment manual<br>* Other names: pe;|
| Experimental: Imagery rescripting<br> | Behavioral: Imagery rescripting<br>* 7 individual sessions of imagery rescripting of trauma memories according to the imagery rescripting and reprocessing therapy manual<br>* Other names: irrt;|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PTSD symptoms |  | pretreatment, weekly during treatment, posttreatment, followup | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| General psychiatric symptoms |  | pretreatment, weekly during treatment, postttreatment, followup |