An interventional study of Group Written Exposure Therapy in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), sponsored by St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-08.
Sponsored by St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The goal of this open label trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual group extended Written Exposure Therapy (GE-WET) in reducing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms in patients with comorbid PTSD and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) or BPD traits. GE-WET involves attending weekly 2-hour group WET sessions for the duration of 10 weeks, in which they write about their trauma experience using specific instructions.
This study will be conducted at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton's Community Psychiatry Clinic with clients wait listed for PTSD treatment (ages 18- 65, any gender, co-morbid PTSD and BPD/BPD traits).
The main questions this study aims to answer are:
Does GE-WET reduce PTSD symptoms (based on PCL-5 measures) in this population (outpatient clients ages 18-65 of any gender, with a diagnosis of PTSD and BPD or BPD traits)?
Does GE-WET result in reduced drop-out rates for this population, compared to that of other evidence-based treatment for PTSD?
What are participants subjective experience of GE-WET?
2,682 studies on the registry are indexed under Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; 601 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 63 is close to the median of 69 across 2,196 interventional studies indexed under Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic.
Browse Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic studies →St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is the lead sponsor of 143 studies on the registry; 33 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will be invited to participate in group extended Written Exposure Therapy (described in the Interventions section).
Behavioral: Group Written Exposure Therapy
Group Extended Written Exposure Therapy (GE-WET) is a time-limited cognitive behavioural therapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) aimed at allowing patients to process their traumatic experiences in a safe environment. GE-WET will consist of 10 weekly group sessions. Participants will be asked to complete weekly in-session written exposures where they will recount their traumatic experience. The written exposure will be followed by a guided discussion about the experience of writing the exposure. There is no homework assigned between sessions. However, group members will be asked to refrain from avoiding thinking about the trauma between sessions.
PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5)
Time frame: From pre-treatment (1 week before the start of group) to one-month follow-up at about 4 months
Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory
A 36-item self-report questionnaire that assesses negative thoughts across three subscales: negative cognitions about the self (e.g., "I am a weak person"), negative cognitions about the world (e.g., "I have to be on guard all the time"), and self-blame (e.g., "the event happened because of the way I acted"). The PTCI has demonstrated good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity with other measures of posttraumatic cognitions.
Time frame: From pre-treatment (1 week before the start of group) to one-month follow-up at about 4 months
Borderline Symptom List- Short Version (BSL-23)
The BSL-23 is a 23-item self-report measure that assesses for DSM borderline personality disorder symptomatology as well as associated problems such as self-criticism, loneliness, helplessness, and problems with trust. The BSL-23 has demonstrated high internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and strong convergent validity with correlations with depression and general psychopathology severity.
Time frame: From pre-treatment (1 week before the start of group) to one-month follow-up at about 4 months
Borderline Symptom List Behaviour Supplement
The BSL-23 Behaviour Supplement is an 11-item supplemental measure used to assess frequency of problematic behaviours (e.g., non-suicidal self-injury, suicide attempts, suicidal communication, angry outbursts, misuse of substances, etc.) associated with borderline personality disorder.
Time frame: From pre-treatment (1 week before the start of group) to one-month follow-up at about 4 months
Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20)
The TAS-20 is a 20-item self-report measure assessing for alexithymia (i.e., issues in identifying and processing emotions) across three factors: difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally-oriented thinking. The TAS-20 has demonstrated adequate levels of convergent validity, good internal consistency, and good test-retest reliability.
Time frame: From pre-treatment (1 week before the start of group) to one-month follow-up at about 4 months
Experience of Shame Scale (ESS)
The ESS is a 25-item self-report measure assessing characterological shame (e.g., shame of personal habits or personal ability), behavioural shame (e.g., shame in doing or saying something wrong), and bodily shame (e.g., shame regarding one's body). The ESS has demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability.
Time frame: From pre-treatment (1 week before the start of group) to one-month follow-up at about 4 months
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)
The DERS is a widely used 36-item self-report measure assessing six dimensions of emotion regulation difficulties. The DERS demonstrates good internal consistency, convergent validity, and predictive validity of behaviours reflective of emotion regulation difficulties.
Time frame: From pre-treatment (1 week before the start of group) to one-month follow-up at about 4 months
Group Cohesion Scale - Revised (GCS-R)
The GCS-R is a self-report measure that measure's group member's perception of their group and the strength of the bonds formed. The GCS-R showed high reliability for use in research and is sensitive to detecting changes in cohesiveness as a function of group development.
Time frame: Mid treatment (at about 5 weeks after start of group) and post treatment (at about 10 weeks)
Plan to share: No
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in May 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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