An adjunctive human-animal interaction intervention for veterans with PTSD: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rarely remits over time, and if left untreated, leads to significant distress, functional impairment, and increased health care costs. Fortunately, effective evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for PTSD, such as Prolonged Exposure (PE), exist. Despite their availability and efficacy, a significant number of individuals with PTSD do not initiate treatment when offered or dropout prematurely. One proposed theory suggests that the emotional-numbing symptoms of PTSD (e.g., blunted affect, apathy) can serve as a barrier to engaging in, and successfully completing, treatment; and the broad human-animal interaction (HAI) literature available suggests that HAI can potentially reduce emotional numbing related to PTSD. Accordingly, this manuscript describes an ongoing, federally funded, randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of RESCUE, an HAI intervention, as a viable adjunctive treatment component for PE.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2019
- Source ID
- 10.1186/s13063-019-3877-3
Entities
People
- Anouk L. Grubaugh
- Bethany C. Wangelin
- Brian E. Lozano
- Peter W Tuerk
- Stephanie M. Keller
- Ursula S. Myers
Organizations
- Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs