Intensive Treatment for Chronic Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

March 13, 2017 updated by: VA Office of Research and Development

Intensive Treatment of Chronic Pain and PTSD for OEF/OIF Veterans

This study is investigating the efficacy of an intensive (3 week) integrated treatment for Veterans with both pain and PTSD.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Objectives:

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of an intensive integrated treatment for Veterans with comorbid chronic pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A secondary objective is to examine potential mechanisms of action that might account for improvements in pain or PTSD. Third, exploratory analyses will be conducted to assess the relationship between participation in treatment and cognitive functioning. It is hypothesized that 1) participants receiving the intensive treatment (PT) will report significantly greater decreases in symptoms of pain and PTSD from pre-treatment to post-treatment when compared to participants randomized to a standard care (SC) condition, and 2) participants receiving PT will show greater maintenance of change on measures of pain and PTSD at 3 months following the completion of treatment when compared to participants randomized to the SC condition.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

23

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

    • Connecticut
      • West Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06516
        • VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus, West Haven, CT
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02130
        • VA Boston Healthcare System Jamaica Plain Campus, Jamaica Plain, MA

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients will be eligible to participate if they have constant pain of at least three months duration with a neurologic or musculoskeletal etiology.
  • Patients must also meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with life threatening or acute physical illness, current alcohol or substance abuse, current psychosis or suicidal ideation, and individuals seeking pain treatment such as surgical interventions will be excluded.

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
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intensive Treatment
Intensive 3 week treatment for pain and PTSD. This includes elements of Cognitive Processing Therapy and CBT for Chronic Pain
Participants randomized to the Intensive Treatment condition will attend 6 bi-weekly outpatient therapy sessions conducted in an individual format of 90 minutes in duration.
Experimental: Treatment as Usual
Treatment as Usual. Participants are eligible for all treatment services as needed except for treatment of pain or PTSD
Treatment as Usual.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
McGill Pain Questionnaire
Time Frame: 6 months
McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ; Melzack, 1975): is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 102 words separated into three major classes; the sensory, affective, and evaluative aspects of pain. Respondents are asked to circle the word that best describes their pain. The stability, reliability, and validity of the MPQ have been established (Reading, Everitt, & Sledmere, 1982). The MPQ total score ranges from 0 to 78 with higher values indicating more significant pain.
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: John Otis, BS BA PhD, VA Boston Healthcare System Jamaica Plain Campus, Jamaica Plain, MA

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.

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 (Actual)

August 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

December 29, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 30, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 7, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

May 10, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 12, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 13, 2017

Last Verified

March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

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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