Clinical Trials Logo

Clinical Trial Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if receiving Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD in massed format (multiple sessions weekly) is as effective as receiving it with sessions once per week among veterans with PTSD and substance use disorder in intensive outpatient substance use treatment. The main questions it aims to answer are: - Will the massed format help participants complete and benefit from Prolonged Exposure in terms of PTSD symptoms? - Will it help participants reduce substance use? Participants who are in intensive substance use treatment will be asked to complete Prolonged Exposure with either weekly sessions or multiple sessions per week.


Clinical Trial Description

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder (SUD) often co-occur. PTSD+SUD comorbidity is associated with more severe PTSD, worse treatment outcomes for substance use, greater suicide risk and worse functioning than having one of these disorders. First-line treatments for PTSD, particularly Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), are effective in treating PTSD among those with a SUD, and delivering these treatments concurrent to SUD programming is recommended by the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines. While PE is one of the most effective treatment options for PTSD among those with PTSD+SUD, effects are smaller and dropout is higher than among people with PTSD without a SUD. A promising way to enhance outcomes is to offer PE in a massed format (M-PE; i.e., multiple sessions per week instead of once weekly). M-PE has been shown to be effective in improving PTSD symptoms and substantially reducing dropout in military and Veteran populations. Preliminary findings suggest M-PE delivered concurrent to intensive SUD programming is a promising strategy that warrants further study. Evaluating the effectiveness of M- PE delivery in of SUD intensive outpatient programming (IOP) in improving PTSD and other mental health outcomes and reducing dropout as compared to weekly PE delivery (W-PE) is the necessary next step in this critical research. The primary goal of this project is to determine if a promising way to treat PTSD among those with SUD, M-PE, will help Veterans with their PTSD symptoms and lead to better treatment completion rates more than PE delivered weekly and if the massed format will reduce substance use comparably to weekly PE among those in intensive SUD treatment. The study will also evaluate if M-PE helps Veterans function better and feel less depressed. M-PE is a one-on-one talk therapy that is delivered over twelve sessions several times a week. The therapy is brief because of the massed format so that it can be delivered at times when lengthy interventions may not be realistic, such as military mental health clinics on bases where military personnel may be getting ready to redeploy. The research team's preliminary work with Veterans in intensive SUD treatment showed M-PE to lead to improvements in PTSD and depression symptoms with no dropout, making this larger evaluation of M-PE compared to PE delivered in the traditional longer (weekly) format a critical next step. The study will accomplish this by randomly assigning participants who are in intensive SUD treatment to receive either M-PE or W-PE. The study will have 200 Veterans who served post 9/11 go through this study and the entire study is expected to take four years to complete. The study will run the study across four VAs (San Diego, Tampa, Chicago, and Atlanta). ;


Study Design


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


NCT number NCT06296186
Study type Interventional
Source Veterans Medical Research Foundation
Contact Sonya Norman, PhD
Phone 858-518-8266
Email snorman@ucsd.edu
Status Not yet recruiting
Phase N/A
Start date May 2024
Completion date August 2027

See also
  Status Clinical Trial Phase
Completed NCT05660434 - Using Aromatherapy in Substance Use Disorder N/A
Active, not recruiting NCT05338268 - Substance Use and Loneliness N/A
Completed NCT03954184 - E-health Implementation (Iowa) N/A
Completed NCT04098614 - Barriers to Substance Use Disorder Recovery N/A
Completed NCT03590106 - Cardiac Surgery Peer Recovery Support Program N/A
Recruiting NCT05118204 - Randomized Trial of Buprenorphine Microdose Inductions During Hospitalization Phase 4
Recruiting NCT06273228 - Parenting Young Children in Pediatrics N/A
Recruiting NCT05327504 - Written Exposure Therapy for Veterans With SUD and PTSD N/A
Terminated NCT03517111 - The Impact of a Parenting Intervention on Latino Youth Health Behaviors N/A
Completed NCT04284813 - Families With Substance Use and Psychosis: A Pilot Study N/A
Completed NCT04401215 - Technologically-Augmented Referrals to Mitigate Addiction Consequences N/A
Not yet recruiting NCT06163651 - Evaluating a One-Year Version of the Parent-Child Assistance Program N/A
Not yet recruiting NCT06187701 - Co-Active Therapeutic Theatre (Co-ATT) for Dual-Diagnosis Patients N/A
Recruiting NCT04296604 - Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Neuromodulation of Executive Function Across Neuropsychiatric Populations N/A
Active, not recruiting NCT02382042 - Intensive Referral Intervention to Improve Substance Use Disorder Treatment Outcomes Among Rural and Highly Rural Veterans N/A
Terminated NCT01356667 - Drum-Assisted Therapy for Native Americans N/A
Completed NCT01237366 - Study Targeting Affect Regulation Phase 1/Phase 2
Completed NCT00708890 - Twelve Step Based Self-help Groups for Substance Related Disorders N/A
Active, not recruiting NCT04048850 - Zepatier in Patients With Substance Use
Recruiting NCT05976646 - Phase Ib/2a Drug-drug Interaction Study of a Combination of 45mg Dextromethorphan With 105 mg Bupropion Phase 1/Phase 2