Change of Neural Network Indicators Through Narrative Treatment of PTSD in Torture Victims

PTSD Clinical Trial

Official title:

Change of Neural Network Indicators Through Narrative Treatment of PTSD in Torture Victims

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00563888
• Other study ID #: SOSS-B6
• Secondary ID: SOSS-B6
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• First received: November 23, 2007
• Last updated: November 23, 2007
• Start date: January 2007
• Est. completion date: December 2008

Study information

• Verified date: November 2007
• Source: University of Konstanz
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Germany: Ethics Commission
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Effective Treatment of PTSD involves talking about the traumatic event in detail.It is unclear how this process influences the sensory-specific trauma network (fear structure)in the traumatized person. The goal of the project is to test the hypothesis that treatment-facilitated recovery does not change the original fear structure but establishes an inhibitory mechanism that depends on verbal activity. An affective visual steady-state paradigm in magnetencephalography (MEG) using positive, aversive and neutral picture stimuli will be used to examine the spatial and temporal pattern of the processing of emotional stimuli. To examine the effects of treatment this paradigm will be used as outcome measure within a randomized controlled trial of Narrative Exposure Therapy and a waiting-list control condition for severely traumatized torture victims.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 30
• Est. completion date: December 2008
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years to 65 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• experiences of organized violence/torture

• PTSD diagnosis

Exclusion Criteria:

• psychotic disorder

• neurological disease or seizures

• current drug/alcohol abuse

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Single Blind (Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• PTSD

Intervention

Behavioral:
• NET
Narrative Exposure Therapy for traumatized survivors of organized violence

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Germany	University of Konstanz, Department of Psychology	Konstanz

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Konstanz	German Research Foundation

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Germany, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	PTSD diagnosis and severity score according to the Clinicians Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS)		4 & 9 months after completion of treatment
Secondary	steady state visual evoked magnetic fields in response to affective stimuli		4 & 9 months after completion of treatment