Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Conditions
Brief summary
The experience of trauma not only impacts the way an individual thinks and feels, but can also produce changes in the way someone remembers their personal past. It is not only memories of the trauma that are affected- avoidance of trauma memories can also lead to memories of other events becoming vague, and in particular, memories of positive experiences can seem out of reach. This memory difficulty promotes posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study will explore an intervention that aims to improve memory difficulties, which should then flow on to improve PTSD. The study will be completed with individuals who have experienced a single incident trauma. Twenty five participants will complete MemFlex straight away, and 25 will go on a waiting list. Once this first group has finished MemFlex, the researchers will compare the two groups to see if the programme produced a larger reduction in PTSD symptoms. MemFlex is workbook-based, and as such, if it is successful it may offer an easy, cheap, and accessible way to offer psychological treatment to PTSD sufferers around the world.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALMemory Flexibility training (MemFlex)
MemFlex is a primarily self-guided, paper workbook-based program which aims to reduce overgeneral memory bias and improve recall of positive, specific event memories. Prior to completing one month of self-guided, workbook-based intervention, the participant will attend one 45 minute face-to-face session in which the facilitator outlines the importance of autobiographical memory in everyday life, discusses the impact of trauma on autobiographical memory, and provides information on the different types of autobiographical memories (e.g., specific, general) and their potential everyday functions. The session also introduces the cued-recall tasks which were used to train the memory skills throughout the workbook, and provides facilitator-assisted practice with the tasks. Once participants are comfortable with the training exercises, they set a schedule for completion of the eight-session workbook over the following four weeks.
Sponsors
Institute for Cognitive Science Studies, Iran
Kharazmi University
Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Masking description
Assessors will be blind to allocated condition
Intervention model description
Single blind, randomized controlled trial comparing active intervention to waitlist control
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (as indexed by the Farsi version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM disorders \[SCID\]) * Aged over 18 years
Exclusion criteria
* Lack of oral and/or written fluency in Farsi * Traumatic brain injury or cognitive impairment, indexed via self-report * Current experience of psychosis, indexed by SCID
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Autobiographical memory | At post-intervention assessment (approximately 4-5 weeks after pre-intervention assessment) | Number of correct responses on the Alternating Instructions Autobiographical Memory Test- Farsi version |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| PTSD symptoms at post-intervention | At post-intervention assessment (approximately 4-5 weeks after pre-intervention assessment) | Total score (range - 0-80) on the Farsi version of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders- Fifth Edition |
| PTSD symptoms at follow-up | Three months following the completion of the intervention | Total score (range - 0-80) on the Farsi version of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders- Fifth Edition |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Depression | At post-intervention assessment (approximately 4-5 weeks after pre-intervention assessment) | Total score (range = 0-63) on the Farsi version of the Beck Depression Inventory II |
| Posttraumatic Cognitions | At post-intervention assessment (approximately 4-5 weeks after pre-intervention assessment) | Total score (range = 33-231) on the Farsi version of the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory |
| Future Thinking | At post-intervention assessment (approximately 4-5 weeks after pre-intervention assessment) | Number of generated positive items on the Farsi version of the Future Thinking Task |
| Trauma memory quality | At post-intervention assessment (approximately 4-5 weeks after pre-intervention assessment) | Total score (range = 14-56) on the Farsi version of the Trauma Memory Quality Questionnaire |
| Rumination | At post-intervention assessment (approximately 4-5 weeks after pre-intervention assessment) | Total score (range = 22-88) on the Farsi version of the Ruminative Response Scale |
Countries
Iran
Outcome results
None listed