driving phobia after traffic accident or another critical event in traffic F40.2 F43.1 F43.2
Conditions
Interventions
Group 1: Experimental group receives an intensive behavioral therapy with a duration of one week including confrontation sessions in the driving simulator after a screening visit. 8 sessions - each la
Sponsors
Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (DGUV)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 63 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: • car drivers aged with severe symptoms of fear and avoidance of driving a car (completely or related to specific driving situations) • since at least four weeks • triggered by a traffic accident or another critical event in traffic • valid driving license and regular driving experience prior to the triggering event • diagnoses: adjustment disorder, specific (isolated) phobia or posttraumatic stress disorder • no prior exposure therapy in vivo (exceptions: mere exposure to sitting in a car, cancelled exposure) • no or stable therapy with psychoactive drugs since at least four weeks
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: • alcohol/drug addiction • triggering event happened under the influence of alcohol/drugs • suicidality • psychosis and other premorbid mental disorders and comorbidities such as coronary heart disease and epilepsy as well as severe cognitive impairment and other findings rated to be a contraindication to an exposure therapy during the investigation at the Medical Study Center Würzburg • for females only: positive pregnancy test.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Avoidance behavior during the driving test in real traffic. The primary criterion is if the patients are able to master at least one driving task/situation in the driving test with a driving instructor, which they had rated before as not being manageable (or only with very strong anxiety). The decision for the success of the therapy is made by means of the rating of the driving instructor and of a traffic psychologist regarding the avoidance behavior (half-structured observation form). | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| • Driving behaviour during driving test with driving instructor (rating by the driving instructor, rating by the traffic psychologist by means of the semi-automatical application S.A.F.E. for tablet PCs) • Subjective anxiety during the driving test with driving instructor as well as during the driving simulator sessions by means of the SUD-scale • Pulse during the exposition sessions • Concentration capability by means of the d2 Test of Attention (Brickenkamp et al., 2010) before and after the treatment • Accident fear before the treatment and in the follow-up interview by means of the Accident Fear Questionnaire AFQ (Kuch et al., 1995) • Symptoms of a posttraumatic stress disorder by means of the Posttraumatic Stress Scale Self-Report PSS-SR (Foa et al., 1997) before the treatment and in the follow-up interview • Symptoms of anxiety disorders and depression before the treatment and in the follow-up interview by means of the Beck-Depression-Inventory II (BDI-II, Beck et al., 2009) and Beck-Anxiety-Inventory (BAI, Beck et al., 2007) • Driving and behaviour avoidance in the simulator during the simulator sessions by means of the S.A.F.E.-ratings of the traffic psychologist and ratings of the therapist by means of a half-standardized observation form • Simulator Sickness before and after each simulator session by means of a list of symptoms according to Kennedy et al. (1993) | — |
Countries
Germany
Contacts
Public ContactAnna Kuraszkiewicz
Psychotherapeutische Hochschulambulanz der Universität Würzburg
Outcome results
None listed