Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy vs TAU for Adjustment Disorder Following Traumatic Event Exposure

Mental Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title:

Comparative Effectiveness of Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy vs TAU for Adjustment Disorder Following Traumatic Event Exposure

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT06433271
• Other study ID #: Pro00134707
• Secondary ID: PR230007
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 2024
• Est. completion date: January 2029

Study information

• Verified date: May 2024
• Source: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Contact: Stephanie M Hart, MPH
• Phone: 8435775011
• Email: stephanie.hart4[@]va.gov
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Adjustment Disorder (AjD) is the most common mental health condition diagnosed in Active Duty personnel, and is diagnosed following an extreme stress event such as traumatic loss of a comrade, serious accident or injury, or other intense stress event. Despite its high prevalence, no evidence based treatment for AjD has been subjected to randomized controlled trials. This study seeks to build on the research team's pilot work across several disorders study to benefit service members and Veterans with AjD, a highly prevalent but frequently inadequately treated condition.

The investigators will compare the effects of Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT) vs treatment as usual which is Moving Forward Problem Solving Therapy (TAU-PST) on AjD symptom outcomes. The investigators hypothesize that TBT will result in greater overall symptom reduction compared to TAU-PST.

Description:

Adjustment Disorder (AjD) is the most common mental health condition diagnosed in Active Duty personnel, and is diagnosed following an extreme stress event such as traumatic loss of a comrade, serious accident or injury, or other intense stress event. Despite its high prevalence, no evidence based treatment for AjD has been subjected to randomized controlled trials.

Currently, the VA suggests a problem solving cognitive behavioral therapy, but this recommendation is not based on replicated, randomized controlled trials. Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT), is based on key 'active components' of existing evidence based treatments such as Prolonged Exposure and Behavioral Activation, has been designed by this research team to be easily trained and inexpensively disseminated, and has been evaluated in a series of pilots with anxiety and depression disorders that, importantly, represent the key symptom classes of adjustment disorder.

Thus, the rationale for the proposed trial is that the research team has done preliminary efficacy testing of an easily exportable intervention that has impact on the key symptoms of adjustment disorder, and the standard of evidence demands replicated, randomized controlled trials to determine if initial signals of positive effect are sustained.

The study will use a 2 group repeated measures randomized controlled design to evaluate effectiveness of TBT for AjD compared to treatment as usual (TAU-PST). Participants will be randomly assigned in equal numbers (n = 75; N = 150) to one of two treatment arms: (1) TBT or (2) TAU-PST. Participants assigned to TBT will receive 10-14, 45-60-minute, manualized, individual therapy sessions. Participants assigned to TAU-PST will receive 10-14, 45-60-minute sessions of Problem-Solving Therapy. Dependent measures will include Department of Defense (DoD) specified common data elements and specific measures of AjD, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and functioning collected by blinded assessors at baseline, post-treatment, 3-month, and 6-month follow-up.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 150
• Est. completion date: January 2029
• Est. primary completion date: July 2028
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adult male or female over the age of 18 that has served, or is currently serving, in the military.

• Stable psychotropic medication for at least 4 weeks if applicable

• Current DSM-5 diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

• Active psychosis

• Suicidal ideation with clear intent

• Severe substance use

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Adjustment Disorders
• Mental Disorder
• Mental Disorders

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT)
TBT manualized treatment incorporates daily exposure exercises from up to four categories of avoidance that are most characteristic of the emotional disorders (i.e., situational, interoceptive, imaginal, and positive emotional).
• Treatment as Usual-Problem Solving Therapy (TAU-PST)
PST is an evidence- based psychotherapy implemented in VA Primary Care - Mental Health Integration (PC-MHI), with hundreds of VA providers trained in the intervention nationally. The primary aim of PST is to improve a patient's ability to cope with stressful events by adopting an adaptive perspective to stressors and using goal-focused, problem-solving behaviors to manage the problems associated with the stressors.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System	Charleston	South Carolina

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston	Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (4)

Gros DF, Allan NP. A randomized controlled trial comparing Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT) and behavioral activation in veterans with affective disorders. Psychiatry Res. 2019 Nov;281:112541. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2019.112541. Epub 2019 Aug 29. — View Citation

Gros DF, Merrifield C, Rowa K, Szafranski DD, Young L, McCabe RE. A Naturalistic Comparison of Group Transdiagnostic Behaviour Therapy (TBT) and Disorder-Specific Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Groups for the Affective Disorders. Behav Cogn Psychother. 2019 Jan;47(1):39-51. doi: 10.1017/S1352465818000309. Epub 2018 May 29. — View Citation

Gros DF, Szafranski DD, Shead SD. A real world dissemination and implementation of Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT) for veterans with affective disorders. J Anxiety Disord. 2017 Mar;46:72-77. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.04.010. Epub 2016 Apr 27. — View Citation

Gros DF. Development and initial evaluation of Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy (TBT) for veterans with affective disorders. Psychiatry Res. 2014 Dec 15;220(1-2):275-82. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2014.08.018. Epub 2014 Aug 15. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Adjustment Disorder New Module Self Report	The Adjustment Disorder New Module (ADNM) is a 20-item self-report measure of AjD that first asks participants to select from a list of past year stressors and to identify which was the most prominent or distressing. The second section comprises 20 items, which form six subscales in accordance with International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) criteria relating to pre-occupation, failure to adapt, avoidance, depressive mood, anxiety, and impulse disturbance (Lorenz et al., 2016). Participants rate on a 4-point Likert scale how often they have experienced particular symptoms during the past two weeks, and overall symptom severity is calculated as a sum of all item scores. Total score ranges from 20-80, with a higher score indicating a higher risk of developing adjustment disorder.	Baseline
Primary	Adjustment Disorder New Module Self Report	The ADNM is a 20-item self-report measure of AjD that first asks participants to select from a list of past year stressors and to identify which was the most prominent or distressing. The second section comprises 20 items, which form six subscales in accordance with ICD-11 criteria relating to pre-occupation, failure to adapt, avoidance, depressive mood, anxiety, and impulse disturbance (Lorenz et al., 2016). Participants rate on a 4-point Likert scale how often they have experienced particular symptoms during the past two weeks, and overall symptom severity is calculated as a sum of all item scores. Total score ranges from 20-80, with a higher score indicating a higher risk of developing adjustment disorder.	1 week post treatment
Primary	Adjustment Disorder New Module Self Report	The ADNM is a 20-item self-report measure of AjD that first asks participants to select from a list of past year stressors and to identify which was the most prominent or distressing. The second section comprises 20 items, which form six subscales in accordance with ICD-11 criteria relating to pre-occupation, failure to adapt, avoidance, depressive mood, anxiety, and impulse disturbance (Lorenz et al., 2016). Participants rate on a 4-point Likert scale how often they have experienced particular symptoms during the past two weeks, and overall symptom severity is calculated as a sum of all item scores. Total score ranges from 20-80, with a higher score indicating a higher risk of developing adjustment disorder.	3 months post treatment
Primary	Adjustment Disorder New Module Self Report	The ADNM is a 20-item self-report measure of AjD that first asks participants to select from a list of past year stressors and to identify which was the most prominent or distressing. The second section comprises 20 items, which form six subscales in accordance with ICD-11 criteria relating to pre-occupation, failure to adapt, avoidance, depressive mood, anxiety, and impulse disturbance (Lorenz et al., 2016). Participants rate on a 4-point Likert scale how often they have experienced particular symptoms during the past two weeks, and overall symptom severity is calculated as a sum of all item scores. Total score ranges from 20-80, with a higher score indicating a higher risk of developing adjustment disorder.	6 months post treatment
Primary	PTSD Checklist-5	The Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) (PCL-5) (Weathers et al., 2013) is structured to correspond to the DSM-5 PTSD criteria. The 20-items are scored on a 0-4 Likert scale for each symptom corresponding to "Not at all" to "Extremely". Total score ranges from 0 to 80, with a higher score indicating greater PTSD symptom severity.	Baseline
Primary	PTSD Checklist-5	The PCL-5 (Weathers et al., 2013) is structured to correspond to the DSM-5 PTSD criteria. The 20-items are scored on a 0-4 Likert scale for each symptom corresponding to "Not at all" to "Extremely". Total score ranges from 0 to 80, with a higher score indicating greater PTSD symptom severity.	1 week post treatment
Primary	PTSD Checklist-5	The PCL-5 (Weathers et al., 2013) is structured to correspond to the DSM-5 PTSD criteria. The 20-items are scored on a 0-4 Likert scale for each symptom corresponding to "Not at all" to "Extremely". Total score ranges from 0 to 80, with a higher score indicating greater PTSD symptom severity.	3 months post treatment
Primary	PTSD Checklist-5	The PCL-5 (Weathers et al., 2013) is structured to correspond to the DSM-5 PTSD criteria. The 20-items are scored on a 0-4 Likert scale for each symptom corresponding to "Not at all" to "Extremely". Total score ranges from 0 to 80, with a higher score indicating greater PTSD symptom severity.	6 months post treatment
Primary	Patient Health Questionnaire-9	The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) (Kroenke et al., 2001) is a widely used, well-validated measure of depression severity with high internal consistency (alpha .83 to .92; Cameron et al, 2008) and is correlated strongly with other depression measures. Its nine items assess affective and somatic symptoms and correspond to diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD). This measure will also be collected every other week during treatment. Total score ranges from 0 to 27 (scores of 5-9 are classified as mild depression; 10-14 as moderate depression; 15-19 as moderately severe depression; = 20 as severe depression).	Baseline
Primary	Patient Health Questionnaire-9	The PHQ-9 (Kroenke et al., 2001) is a widely used, well-validated measure of depression severity with high internal consistency (alpha .83 to .92; Cameron et al, 2008) and is correlated strongly with other depression measures. Its nine items assess affective and somatic symptoms and correspond to diagnostic criteria for MDD. This measure will also be collected every other week during treatment. Total score ranges from 0 to 27 (scores of 5-9 are classified as mild depression; 10-14 as moderate depression; 15-19 as moderately severe depression; = 20 as severe depression).	1 week post treatment
Primary	Patient Health Questionnaire-9	The PHQ-9 (Kroenke et al., 2001) is a widely used, well-validated measure of depression severity with high internal consistency (alpha .83 to .92; Cameron et al, 2008) and is correlated strongly with other depression measures. Its nine items assess affective and somatic symptoms and correspond to diagnostic criteria for MDD. This measure will also be collected every other week during treatment. Total score ranges from 0 to 27 (scores of 5-9 are classified as mild depression; 10-14 as moderate depression; 15-19 as moderately severe depression; = 20 as severe depression).	3 months post treatment
Primary	Patient Health Questionnaire-9	The PHQ-9 (Kroenke et al., 2001) is a widely used, well-validated measure of depression severity with high internal consistency (alpha .83 to .92; Cameron et al, 2008) and is correlated strongly with other depression measures. Its nine items assess affective and somatic symptoms and correspond to diagnostic criteria for MDD. This measure will also be collected every other week during treatment. Total score ranges from 0 to 27 (scores of 5-9 are classified as mild depression; 10-14 as moderate depression; 15-19 as moderately severe depression; = 20 as severe depression).	6 months post treatment
Secondary	Insomnia Severity Index	The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) self-report measure captures a respondent's perception of his or her current insomnia. The ISI includes seven items that assess severity of sleep onset, sleep maintenance, and early morning awakening problems; sleep dissatisfaction; interference of sleep difficulties with daytime functioning; noticeability of sleep problems by others; and distress caused by the sleep difficulties. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale and the total score ranges from 0 to 28. A higher score suggests more severe insomnia.	Baseline
Secondary	Insomnia Severity Index	The ISI self-report measure captures a respondent's perception of his or her current insomnia. The ISI includes seven items that assess severity of sleep onset, sleep maintenance, and early morning awakening problems; sleep dissatisfaction; interference of sleep difficulties with daytime functioning; noticeability of sleep problems by others; and distress caused by the sleep difficulties. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale and the total score ranges from 0 to 28. A higher score suggests more severe insomnia.	1 week post treatment
Secondary	Insomnia Severity Index	The ISI self-report measure captures a respondent's perception of his or her current insomnia. The ISI includes seven items that assess severity of sleep onset, sleep maintenance, and early morning awakening problems; sleep dissatisfaction; interference of sleep difficulties with daytime functioning; noticeability of sleep problems by others; and distress caused by the sleep difficulties. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale and the total score ranges from 0 to 28. A higher score suggests more severe insomnia.	3 months post treatment
Secondary	Insomnia Severity Index	The ISI self-report measure captures a respondent's perception of his or her current insomnia. The ISI includes seven items that assess severity of sleep onset, sleep maintenance, and early morning awakening problems; sleep dissatisfaction; interference of sleep difficulties with daytime functioning; noticeability of sleep problems by others; and distress caused by the sleep difficulties. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale and the total score ranges from 0 to 28. A higher score suggests more severe insomnia.	6 months post treatment
Secondary	Medical Outcome Study Short Form-36 Health Survey	The Short Form-36 (SF-36) (Ware & Sherbourne, 1992) is a 36-item questionnaire that measures health status, social support, and functioning over the past four weeks. Total score ranges from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating better health status.	Baseline
Secondary	Medical Outcome Study Short Form-36 Health Survey	The SF-36 (Ware & Sherbourne, 1992) is a 36-item questionnaire that measures health status, social support, and functioning over the past four weeks. Total score ranges from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating better health status.	1 week post treatment
Secondary	Medical Outcome Study Short Form-36 Health Survey	The SF-36 (Ware & Sherbourne, 1992) is a 36-item questionnaire that measures health status, social support, and functioning over the past four weeks. Total score ranges from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating better health status.	3 months post treatment
Secondary	Medical Outcome Study Short Form-36 Health Survey	The SF-36 (Ware & Sherbourne, 1992) is a 36-item questionnaire that measures health status, social support, and functioning over the past four weeks. Total score ranges from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating better health status.	6 months post treatment
Secondary	Dose Received	Number of treatment sessions completed.	14 weeks after treatment starts