Skills training followed by either EMDR or narrative therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder in adult survivors of childhood abuse a randomized controlled trial

Background: Individuals suffering from PTSD following childhood abuse represent a large subgroup of patients attending mental health services. The aim of phase-based treatment is to tailor treatment to the specific needs to childhood abuse survivors with PTSD with a Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) phase, in which emotion dysregulation and interpersonal problems are targeted, and a trauma-focused phase.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare STAIR + Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) vs. STAIR + Narrative Therapy (NT) as treatments for PTSD following childhood-onset trauma in a routine clinical setting.
Method: Sixty-eight adults were randomly assigned to STAIR/EMDR (8 STAIR-sessions followed by 12 EMDR-sessions) or STAIR/NT (8 STAIR-sessions followed by 12 NT-sessions). Assessments took place at pre-treatment, after each treatment phase and at 3 and 12 months post-intervention follow-up. Primary outcomes were interviewer-rated and self-reported symptom levels of PTSD. Secondary outcomes included symptom levels of depression and disturbances in emotion regulation and interpersonal skills.
Results: Multilevel analyses in the intent-to-treat sample indicated that patients in both treatments improved substantially on PTSD symptom severity (CAPS: d = 0.81 to 1.29; PDS: d = 1.68 to 2.15), as well as on symptom levels of depression, anxiety, emotion regulation, dissociation and interpersonal skills. Effects increased or were maintained until 12-month follow-up. At mid-treatment, after STAIR, patients in both treatments improved moderately on PTSD symptom severity (PDS: d = 1.68 to 2.15), as well as on symptom levels of depression (BDI: d =.32 to.31). Symptoms of anxiety, emotion dysregulation, interpersonal problems and dissociation were not decreased after STAIR. There were no significant differences between the two conditions on any outcome. Conclusion: PTSD in adult survivors of childhood interpersonal trauma can effectively be treated by phase-based interventions using either EMDR or NT in the trauma-processing phase.