Effectiveness and predictors of treatment outcome of an intensive eight-day treatment program for PTSD: A latent profile analysis

Objective: In recent years, there has been growing interest in intensive treatment programs for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), since these are characterized by low drop-out rates, whereas treatment effects are presumably similar but faster than those of non-intensive treatments. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of an intensive eight-day treatment program consisting of both EMDR therapy and prolonged exposure therapy, and examined predictors of treatment effectiveness. Methods: A total of 272 patients were included in this study. PTSD symptoms and severity were measured using the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and comorbidity was measured using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). A latent profile analysis was conducted to identify different profiles of treatment response patterns. A multinomial logistic regression was employed next to identify predictors of treatment effectiveness. Results: Latent profile analysis revealed five distinct classes of treatment response, reflecting major improvement (31.0%), great improvement with residual hyperarousal symptoms (17.3%), moderate improvement (23.6%), slight improvement with decrease in numbing symptoms (16.7%) and no improvement (11.4%). Only dissociation showed to have some consistent predictive value for the extent to which patients profited from treatment. Conclusions: An intensive treatment program for severe PTSD, consisting of prolonged exposure therapy and EMDR therapy, appears to be feasible and highly effective, even for those with multiple comorbidities. Dissociation emerged as a predictor of the amount of improvement, rather than predicting treatment effectiveness per se.

Dissertation/Thesis

H. A. Zoet

Zoet, H. A. (2017). Effectiveness and predictors of treatment outcome of an intensive eight-day treatment program for PTSD: A latent profile analysis. (Master's thesis, Utrecht University). Dutch