Prevention of Post-Traumatic Stress: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Brief Prolonged Exposure Therapy for Injured Individuals Admitted to a Level I Trauma Center
Abstract
Physical injury is a common occurrence, although sometimes these injuries are severe enough to result in a hospital admission, often to a trauma center. Injuries can occur through a variety of ways including falls, car wrecks, assaults such as a shooting or stabbing, or injuries from playing sports. In addition to the physical and medical effects of a serious injury, psychological and emotional changes can occur. Although it is common to have some symptoms after an injury such as anxiety, depression, memories of the injury that you can’t stop thinking about and bad dreams, in some people these symptoms become more severe and long lasting, resulting in a condition we call Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. We know there are several successful treatments to treat PTSD, and these treatments involve a type of talk therapy that helps you address the memory of the event and not avoid thinking about the event. The specific therapy that has evidence of helping with PTSD is called Prolonged Exposure therapy, or PE. In this study, we want to use a brief version of the PE therapy, which usually takes 12 sessions, and shorten this to three sessions for people who are admitted to a Level 1 trauma center. A hospital that has a Level I trauma center means they are able to provide the highest level of trauma and emergency care available after an injury. We are planning to enroll people at two different Level I trauma centers in Texas, one in Dallas and one in Temple, and one Level I trauma center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The purpose of our study is to see whether this short version of the PE therapy can reduce or eliminate the chances of PTSD happening after an injury. This short form of PE has shown to be effective in another study of people who were admitted to the emergency department so we feel this could be beneficial for those admitted to a trauma center. People who consent, or agree, to be in our study will be randomized (like flipping a coin) into either the group that gets the short PE therapy or those that will get the usual treatment. The study activities will occur while people are admitted to the trauma center but will continue to follow people at three time points after injury, one month, three months and six months later to determine if the effects of the therapy have lasted. We think the people who are in the PE therapy group will have fewer PTSD symptoms; have fewer related symptoms such as depression, pain, and anxiety, and be able to complete the three sessions and actually find it helpful or satisfying. We hope that this study is beneficial to people who are admitted to a trauma center after an injury. In addition, we hope that the study is helpful to people who are either in the military or are Veterans because they often experience PTSD.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2024
- Source ID
- HT94252310884
Entities
People
- Ann Marie Warren
Organizations
- United States Army