Treatment of Depression in Patients With PTSD

April 6, 2015 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health problem of enormous proportion within the VA system for both male and female veterans. The 40 percent of veterans with PTSD and concurrent clinically significant depression are particularly difficult to treat. Effective and efficient treatment of veterans with this combination of disorders would be of benefit to a significant number of veterans.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Background:

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health problem of enormous proportion within the VA system for both male and female veterans. The 40 percent of veterans with PTSD and concurrent clinically significant depression are particularly difficult to treat. Effective and efficient treatment of veterans with this combination of disorders would be of benefit to a significant number of veterans.

Objectives:

Well-validated treatments of PTSD and its complications are rare. There are no studies of treatment addressing the sequelae of chronic PTSD, including depressive symptomatology. Our study is the first randomized, controlled study of group psychosocial interventions for the combination of PTSD and depression in male and female veterans. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact of two psychosocial interventions on clinical outcomes and on the use of hospital resources by veterans with these co-existing disorders.

Methods:

Male and female veterans with both PTSD and depressive diagnoses will be recruited for the study. Male veterans must have combat-related PTSD, and female veterans will have trauma related to sexual assault. Veterans will be randomly assigned to either Self-Management Therapy (Rehm, 1984), a cognitive-behavioral treatment program for depression, or to a Psychoeducational Group Therapy (Dunn, et al., 1998). Both programs involve short-term group therapies that teach veterans about their disorders, and provide them with new strategies and skills for overcoming them. These therapy groups will be in addition to other standard care that veterans receive within the Trauma Recovery Program at the Houston VA Medical Center. Approximately 120 male veterans and 60 female veterans will be enrolled in the program. Participants will be assessed at pretest, posttest, and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up periods, utilizing various clinician-administered and self-report instruments of psychiatric symptomatology, psychosocial functioning, constructs targeted by the therapy groups, treatment compliances, and satisfaction.

Status:

Final report preparation.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

120

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

To be accepted in the study, patients must (a) meet criteria for combat-related (men's cohort) PTSD and either major depressive disorder of dysthymic disorder, (b) not meet criteria for current or past psychosis, score 24 or greater on a Mini-Mental State Examination cognitive screen, (d) not exhibit active suicidality or severity that would preclude participation in the groups, and (e) agree to random assignment and sign informed consent forms. For the women's groups, patients have PTSD related to sexual trauma.

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Arm 1
Behavioral: Self-management therapy; Psychoeducational group therapy

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Nancy Jo Dunn, PhD, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, TX

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

October 1, 1997

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2002

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2002

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 14, 2001

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 15, 2001

First Posted (Estimate)

March 16, 2001

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 7, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 6, 2015

Last Verified

May 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IIR 95-074

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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