A Comparison of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) Versus Present Centered Therapy (PCT) for Veterans

PTSD Clinical Trial

Official title:

A Comparison of CPT vs PCT for Veterans

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00607815
• Other study ID #: MHBA-007-07F
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 15, 2009
• Est. completion date: December 27, 2015

Study information

• Verified date: March 2018
• Source: VA Office of Research and Development
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) versus Present Centered Therapy (PCT) for male OEF/OIF Veterans with combat related PTSD.

Description:

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) versus Present Centered Therapy (PCT) for male OEF/OIF Veterans with combat related PTSD.

CPT has been shown to be effective in treating trauma survivors in several treatment outcome studies, but utility with Veterans has only been examined with male Veterans in one small pilot study. In addition CPT has never been compared to a treatment as usual or supportive psychotherapy condition to control for the specific and nonspecific elements of treatment. Although Cognitive Processing Therapy is one of the main treatment modalities at several VA's, including Cincinnati, it has never been compared to PCT, nor has it been used in a large, randomized study of male OEF/OIF Veterans. It is hypothesized that individual receiving CPT will show a larger reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder and related symptoms than those individuals receiving PCT.

All male OEF/OIF Veterans will be screened for their appropriateness for the study by phone screen and then by an assessment technician. The Veteran will be assessed at pre, post, 3-month, and 1-year follow-up. The assessment technicians will be blind to the participant's condition. CPT is a 12 week long individual psychotherapy treatment shown to be effective at reducing PTSD and related symptoms for survivors of various types of traumas, including combat. PCT is a supportive counseling treatment that has been utilized as an alternative to waitlist control in VA cooperative studies of PTSD.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 79
• Est. completion date: December 27, 2015
• Est. primary completion date: February 1, 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Male
• Age group: 18 Years to 75 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• PTSD;

• memory of the trauma;

• able to read/write;

• must be stable on medication for 3 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• Psychosis;

• suicidal/homicidal intent;

• alcohol/substance dependence;

• no memory of the trauma

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• PTSD

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Cognitive Processing Therapy
CPT is a highly structured protocol in which the client learns the skill of recognizing and challenging dysfunctional cognitions, first about the worst traumatic event and then later with regard to the meaning of the events for current beliefs about self and others.
• Present Centered Therapy
Present centered therapy is a supportive counseling model developed by Drs. Foa and Shea. The treatment is called "present centered therapy" to 1) emphasize the need to focus on the participant's current life and 2) to conceptualize the problems as being caused by PTSD, and in some cases they may have been present for a long period of time. The treatment makes a connection between PTSD and current problems thus making it a more realistic PTSD treatment and still allowing PCT to control for nonspecific therapeutic factors

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Cincinnati VA Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH	Cincinnati	Ohio

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
VA Office of Research and Development

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Clinician Administered PTSD Scale	Clinician-rated PTSD symptom severity; higher is worse; range at post-treatment is 0 to 80; scale scores are summed.	Post-treatment, at 3 months and 1 year
Primary	PTSD Checklist (PCL)	17-item patient self-reported PTSD severity; higher is worse; range at post-treatment is 17-73; scale scores are summed	post-treatment, at 3 months and 1 year
Secondary	Beck Depression Inventory - II (BDI-II)	Gold-standard, self-reported depression severity measure; higher is worse; post-treatment range is 2-45. scale scores are summed.	post-treatment, at 3 months and 1 year
Secondary	State-Trait Anger Scale (STAXI)	Self-reported trait anger; subscale score is summed; higher is worse; range at post-treatment is 10-37.	post-treatment, at 3 months and 1 year
Secondary	State-Trait Anxiety Scale	Self-reported state anxiety; higher is worse; scale score is summed; range at post-treatment is 20-73.	post-treatment, at 3 months and 1 year