Presence of the dissociative subtype of PTSD does not moderate the outcome of intensive trauma-focused treatment for PTSD
Study to test the hypothesis that the dissociative subtype of PTSD has a detrimental effect on outcome of intensive trauma-focused treatment.
Article Abstract
“Background: There is a widely-held belief in the trauma field that the presence of dissociative symptoms is associated with poor treatment response. However, previous research on the effect of dissociation in treatment outcomes pertained to specific patients and trauma populations.
Objective: To test the hypothesis that the presence of the dissociative subtype of PTSD (DS) would have a detrimental effect on the outcome of an intensive trauma-focused treatment programme.
Methods: PTSD symptom scores (Clinician Administered PTSD Scale [CAPS] and PTSD Symptom Scale Self-Report [PSS-SR]) were analysed using the data of 168 consecutive patients (70.6% female) who had been exposed to a wide variety of multiple traumas, including childhood sexual abuse, and of whom 98.2% were diagnosed with severe PTSD (CAPS > 65). Most of them suffered from multiple comorbidities and 38 (22.6%) met the criteria for DS. They took part in an intensive trauma-focused treatment programme for PTSD. Pre- and post-treatment differences were compared between patients with and without DS.
Results: Large effect sizes were achieved for PTSD symptom reduction on CAPS and the PSS-SR, both for patients with DS and those without. Although patients with DS showed a significantly greater PTSD symptom severity at the beginning, and throughout, treatment, both groups showed equal reductions in PTSD symptoms. Of those who met the criteria for DS, 26 (68.4%) no longer fulfilled the criteria for this classification after treatment.
Conclusion: The results provide no support for the notion that the presence of DS negatively impacts trauma-focused treatment outcomes. Accordingly, PTSD patients with DS should not be denied effective trauma-focused treatments.”
—Description from publisher
Article Access
Open Access
Zoet, H. A., Wagenmans, A., van Minnen, A., de Jongh, A. (2018). Presence of the dissociative subtype of PTSD does not moderate the outcome of intensive trauma-focused treatment for PTSD. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 9:1. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2018.1468707
Date
May 18, 2018
Creator(s)
Harmen A. Zoet, Anouk Wagenmans, Agnes van Minnen
Contributor(s)
Ad de Jongh
Topics
Complex Trauma/C-PTSD, Dissociation
Extent
10 pages
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Rights
© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
APA Citation
Zoet, H. A., Wagenmans, A., van Minnen, A., de Jongh, A. (2018). Presence of the dissociative subtype of PTSD does not moderate the outcome of intensive trauma-focused treatment for PTSD. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 9:1. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2018.1468707
Audience
EMDR Therapists, Other Mental Health Professionals
Language
English
Content Type
Article, Peer-Reviewed
Access Type
External Resource, Open Access
