Background: One reason for the inclusion of Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) was its suspected relevance... Show moreBackground: One reason for the inclusion of Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) was its suspected relevance for treatment indications. We investigated whether CPTSD predicted and moderated treatment outcomes of Prolonged Exposure (PE), intensified PE (iPE) and Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation followed by PE (STAIR + PE). We expected that CPTSD would predict worse treatment outcomes across treatments. Secondly, we expected that CPTSD would lead to better treatment effect in STAIR + PE compared to PE and iPE.Methods: We analyzed 149 patients with childhood-abuse related PTSD from a randomized clinical trial. CPTSD diagnosis and symptom severity were measured with the International Trauma Questionnaire. The main outcome was change in clinician-assessed PTSD symptoms. Assessments took place at baseline, week 4, week 8, week 16 (post-treatment) and at a 6-and 12-month follow-up. Analyses were based on an intention-to-treat sample using mixed effect models.Results: More than half (54 %) of the patients met criteria for CPTSD at baseline. CPTSD was related to more severe PTSD symptoms and higher comorbidity at baseline. CPTSD neither predicted nor moderated treatment outcome. Limitations: Inclusion was limited to patients with PTSD related to childhood abuse. Replication is needed in different samples.Conclusions: CPTSD is associated with more severe PTSD and with higher comorbidity. CPTSD did not predict treatment outcome and did not indicate differential treatment outcome of STAIR + PE compared to PE and iPE. Show less
Eidhof, M.B.; Heide, F.J.J. ter; Aa, N. van der; Schreckenbach, M.; Schmidt, U.; Brand, B.L.; ... ; Vermetten, E. 2019
The inclusion of the dissociative subtype of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD-DS) in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) reflects the... Show moreThe inclusion of the dissociative subtype of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD-DS) in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) reflects the importance of assessing PTSD-DS. We developed the Dissociative Subtype of PTSD Interview (DSP-I). This clinician-administered instrument assesses the presence and severity of PTSD-DS (i.e., symptoms of depersonalization or derealization) and contains a supplementary checklist that enables assessment and differentiation of other trauma-related dissociative symptoms (i.e., blanking out, emotional numbing, alterations in sensory perception, amnesia, and identity confusion). The psychometric properties were tested in 131 treatment-seeking individuals with PTSD and histories of multiple trauma, 17.6 % of whom met criteria for PTSD-DS in accordance with the DSP-I. The checklist was tested in 275 treatment-seeking individuals. Results showed the DSP-I to have high internal consistency, good convergent validity with PTSD-DS items of the CAPS-5, and good divergent validity with scales of somatization, anxiety and depression. The depersonalization and derealization scales were highly associated. Moreover, the DSP-I accounted for an additional variance in PTSD severity scores of 8% over and above the CAPS-5 and number of traumatic experiences. The dissociative experiences of the checklist were more strongly associated with scales of overall distress, somatization, depression, and anxiety than scales of depersonalization and derealization. In conclusion, the DSP-I appears to be a clinically relevant and psychometrically sound instrument that is valuable for use in clinical and research settings. Show less
