Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Completed
Administrative data
NCT number |
NCT03777800 |
Other study ID # |
10.128 |
Secondary ID |
|
Status |
Completed |
Phase |
N/A
|
First received |
|
Last updated |
|
Start date |
January 14, 2019 |
Est. completion date |
January 1, 2022 |
Study information
Verified date |
December 2023 |
Source |
University of Southern Denmark |
Contact |
n/a |
Is FDA regulated |
No |
Health authority |
|
Study type |
Interventional
|
Clinical Trial Summary
The present study is a randomized, controlled trial that compares a certain type of body
therapy, called ManuVision, to treatment as usual (TAU) in war veterans with posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). The purpose of the study is to determine whether participation in the
body therapy treatment by war veterans who have PTSD, will reduce symptoms of PTSD and
depression, and improve quality of life, function level and body awareness.
Study hypotheses state that the ManuVision approach, compared to the treatment as usual, will
be more effective at reducing the PTSD symptoms experienced by veterans because it will help
the veterans learning to become aware of, accept the PTSD symptoms, reading their own
emotional state and gain body awareness and subsequently have emotional control and improved
coping mechanism when PTSD symptoms arise. The awareness, accept and improved coping
mechanisms means that the nervous system is not under the same pressure and that PTSD
symptoms therefore may be reduced.
Description:
Background: A sizable proportion of soldiers involved in military missions are experiencing
mental health and adjustment problems on their return, including PTSD. PTSD is both a
psychological and a physical condition, which occurs as a post-reaction to one or more
traumatic experiences. The symptoms include aggressive behaviour, difficulty sleeping,
tiredness, anxiety, and social isolation, and many sufferers develop depression, and the war
veterans are at a higher risk of suicide. Physiologically, people with PTSD experience an
activation of their sympathetic nervous system, whereby the stress hormones adrenalin and
cortisol are released, the heart rate increases, the blood pressure rises, and the body is
geared toward a 'fight or flight' response. A major challenge for veterans with PTSD is
emotional control and problems with reading their own and others' emotional state.
This study will provide a certain type of body therapy, called ManuVision, to war veterans
with PTSD. ManuVision is a Danish developed body therapy working with direct physical
treatment of the body and through this approach with the client's psychosocial resources.
There are conversations during and before treatment, as appropriate, and trust is
intentionally built from the first meeting through eye contact and open breathing on behalf
of the ManuVision therapist. The treatment is based on the understanding that chock, trauma
and stress are stored in the body blocking the muscles and breathing and affecting the nerve
system.
The intervention in this project entails individual courses of body therapy including 24
treatment sessions over 6 months for veterans with PTSD, plus recommended daily meditation at
home.
The study goals are to:
1. Investigate how the body therapy treatment is implemented, and how the participants
experience the treatment, respond to the treatment and which transformations
participants experience in the everyday life (a process evaluation by qualitative
methods).
2. Compare the body therapy treatment with treatment as usual (TAU). Symptoms of PTSD,
depression, function level, quality of life, and body awareness will be examined at
pre-treatment, midway during the treatment period, post-treatment and, if possible, at
follow-up to determine if symptoms change over time (an effect evaluation by
quantitative methods).
The research questions are as follows:
A. How is the treatment implemented, how do the participants experience and respond to the
treatment, and what characterizes the interaction between veteran and practitioner? B. In
which ways do the veterans experience transformations, e.g. in terms of their body, feelings,
social relations, everyday lives, quality of life, and handling their PTSD symptoms? C. What
is the effect of the intervention on PTSD symptoms, quality of life, function level,
depression and body awareness? D. Are there better outcomes for participants who received
more treatment (i.e., number of treatment sessions)?
In order to answer the research questions A and B we will use participant observation,
qualitative interviews, and focus group interviews with veterans, family members and
practitioners.
In order to answer the research question C concerning the intervention's effect, appropriate
statistical methods (e.g., Repeated measures ANOVA) will be used to analyse the differences
between the intervention and the control group based on validated questionnaires.
Finally, a dose-response analysis is carried out (D) based on the practitioners' registered
number of treatment sessions. This will support and refine the effect estimations.