Healing Touch & Guided Imagery for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

May 4, 2011 updated by: Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine

Healing Touch and Guided Imagery Intervention in Post-deployment Military Personnel With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

This is a randomized controlled 2 year trial at Camp Pendleton, CA to determine whether a complementary medicine intervention (Healing Touch with Guided Imagery, HT+GI) reduces Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms as compared to treatment as usual (TAU) in returning combat-exposed active duty military with significant PTSD symptoms. Secondary aims will evaluate the effect of HT and GI on measures of depression, hostility, and general health status in this population.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The study enrolled 123 active duty subjects from the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Southern California with at least one or more symptoms of PTSD .

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

123

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
    • California
      • La Jolla, California, United States, 92037
        • Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine

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:

  1. Female or male subjects 18 years or older
  2. Post-deployment from a combat zone
  3. Identified by post-deployment health re-assessment to have PTSD symptoms
  4. Referred by Camp Pendleton
  5. Subjects who are willing to sign a consent
  6. Subjects who are willing to participate for the length of the study

Exclusions:

  1. Female subjects who are now pregnant or nursing
  2. Subjects who are receiving healing touch or using guided imagery from other sources
  3. Subjects who have any major health condition that may interfere with participating in this study

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
  • Masking: SINGLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
OTHER: Group A
This group receives 6 Healing Touch & Guided Imagery treatments in addition to standard medical care.
Other: Healing Touch & Guided Imagery

Healing Touch (HT) is an energy based approach to health and healing. It uses light touch to influence the energy field that surrounds the body, and the energy centers which control the flow of energy to the physical body.

HT complements traditional health care and is used together with other approaches to health and healing.

Guided Imagery (GI) is a form of focused relaxation used to create harmony between the mind and body. Positive mental imagery can promote relaxation, reduce stress and improve mood as well as alter heart rate, blood pressure and breathing.
NO_INTERVENTION: Group B
This group receives standard medical care but NO Healing Touch and Guided Imagery.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
17-item PTSD Checklist (Military)is used to determine the effect of the intervention
Time Frame: After 6 treatments of healing touch and guided imagery
After 6 treatments of healing touch and guided imagery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Depression (Beck Depression Inventory)
Time Frame: After 6 treatments of healing touch and guided imagery
After 6 treatments of healing touch and guided imagery
Quality of Life (SF36)
Time Frame: After 6 treatments of healing touch and guided imagery
After 6 treatments of healing touch and guided imagery
Hostility (Cook-Medley Hostility Inventory)
Time Frame: After 6 treatments of healing touch and guided
After 6 treatments of healing touch and guided

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine

Collaborators

Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Erminia M Guarneri, MD, Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine

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

July 1, 2008

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

July 1, 2010

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

August 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 3, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 4, 2011

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

May 5, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

May 5, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 4, 2011

Last Verified

May 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PTSD_HSC07_4684

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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