PTSD
Conditions
Keywords
PTSD, torture survivors, Narrative Exposure Therapy, trauma-related memory processes, steady state visual evoked fields
Brief summary
Effective Treatment of PTSD involves talking about the traumatic event in detail.It is unclear how this process influences the sensory-specific trauma network (fear structure)in the traumatized person. The goal of the project is to test the hypothesis that treatment-facilitated recovery does not change the original fear structure but establishes an inhibitory mechanism that depends on verbal activity. An affective visual steady-state paradigm in magnetencephalography (MEG) using positive, aversive and neutral picture stimuli will be used to examine the spatial and temporal pattern of the processing of emotional stimuli. To examine the effects of treatment this paradigm will be used as outcome measure within a randomized controlled trial of Narrative Exposure Therapy and a waiting-list control condition for severely traumatized torture victims.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALNET
Narrative Exposure Therapy for traumatized survivors of organized violence
Sponsors
German Research Foundation
University of Konstanz
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* experiences of organized violence/torture * PTSD diagnosis
Exclusion criteria
* psychotic disorder * neurological disease or seizures * current drug/alcohol abuse
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| PTSD diagnosis and severity score according to the Clinicians Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) | 4 & 9 months after completion of treatment |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| steady state visual evoked magnetic fields in response to affective stimuli | 4 & 9 months after completion of treatment |
Countries
Germany
Outcome results
None listed