An interventional study of TARGET (Trauma Affect Regulation) and Prolonged Exposure in PTSD, Anger and Aggression, sponsored by UConn Health. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to male participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2013-05-13.
Sponsored by UConn Health · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The study will compare the efficacy of Trauma Affect Regulation: Guide for Education and Therapy (TARGET) vs. the best validated psychotherapy for adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Prolonged Exposure (PE). Male military personnel and veterans suffering with PTSD and problems with anger after returning from military service in Afghanistan (Operation Emerging Freedom, OEF) and/or Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF) will be participants. The goal is to determine if a present-centered psychotherapy that teaches skills for emotion regulation and does not require re-telling of traumatic memories is as efficacious as the trauma memory-focused PE psychotherapy.
The study is based on a theoretical and clinical model that involves a series of associated risks that are set in motion by exposure to military-related traumatic stressors in Iraq or Afghanistan. Trauma exposure places personnel at risk for PTSD, which in turn increases their risk of problems with anger and hostility, emotion dysregulation and experiential avoidance, and ultimately with alcohol abuse and aggression. The two types of treatments being compared, TARGET (Trauma Affect Regulation: Guide for Education and Therapy) and PE (Prolonged Exposure), are both designed to directly reduce PTSD severity by reducing emotion dysregulation (TARGET) and experiential avoidance (PE), and therefore are hypothesized to reduce the risk and severity of alcohol abuse and aggression- and thereby to reduce associated legal and societal costs.
361 studies on the registry are indexed under Aggression; 51 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 31 is below the median of 60 across 293 interventional studies indexed under Aggression.
Browse Aggression studies →UConn Health is the lead sponsor of 182 studies on the registry; 18 are open to participants now.
Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 6 (67%) have results posted.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Affect regulation psychotherapy for PTSD
Behavioral: TARGET (Trauma Affect Regulation)
Cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD with trauma memory exposure
Behavioral: Prolonged Exposure
TARGET teaches a skill sequence for affect regulation and social/interpersonal information processing.
Also known as: TARGET
Cognitive behavior therapy with trauma memory exposure
Severity of PTSD symptoms
Clinician Administered PTSD Scale Ordinal Scores Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory Trauma Memory Questionnaire Interpretation of PTSD Symptoms Scale
Time frame: Post-therapy
Anger/aggression problems
State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory Brief Symptom Inventory
Time frame: Post-therapy
Emotion Regulation
Negative Mood Regulation scale Difficulty with Emotion Regulation Scale Acceptance and Action Questionnaire
Time frame: Post-therapy
This study is completed, as verified in May 2013. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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