Integrated Treatment for Co-occurring Eating Disorders and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

NCT ID: NCT03502564

Last Updated: 2020-05-19

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 43 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2015-10-22
• Study Completion Date: 2019-10-30

Brief Summary

Although psychotherapy for eating disorders (EDs) can be effective, approximately 50% of those who complete a course of the best available therapy continue to have significant ED symptoms at the end of treatment. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) commonly co-occurs with EDs and is thought to be one reason why some individuals do not remit from their ED with best available treatment or relapse following treatment. In particular, ED behaviours can function as coping methods for PTSD symptoms, and thus interfere with successful and lasting ED recovery. The main objective of this initial treatment trial is to determine whether a concurrent treatment approach, in which PTSD symptoms are treated at the same time as ED symptoms, provides an advantage over standard ED treatment by successfully alleviating PTSD symptoms.

Forty participants who have both an ED and PTSD will be assigned to receive either (1) standard ED psychotherapy alone or (2) standard ED psychotherapy concurrent with PTSD psychotherapy. After treatment, participants will be followed for a period of 6 months to determine whether improvements made during therapy are maintained after treatment. ED and PTSD symptoms, as well as concomitant symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression) will be assessed immediately before and after treatment, as well as 3 and 6 months after treatment.

Detailed Description

Standard ED treatment is characterized by partial response in many individuals, and the risk of relapse is high. This, in combination with significant rates of comorbid PTSD, evidence that trauma history can negatively impact ED treatment outcome, and the observation that PTSD may be a central ED maintaining factor in these individuals, has led us to develop a program of research aimed at demonstrating that the alleviation of PTSD symptoms concurrent with ED treatment facilitates a fuller and sustained ED recovery for these individuals.

The specific aims of this initial randomized controlled trial (RCT) are to determine: (1) the immediate and short-term efficacy of concurrent evidence-based ED and PTSD treatment in reducing PTSD symptoms relative to standard ED treatment; and (2) estimates of the effect sizes of concurrent treatment on ED symptomatology relative to standard ED treatment at post-treatment and follow-up.

Primary Hypothesis:

1. Concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD will result in significantly greater improvements in clinician-rated PTSD symptoms at post-treatment, as well as at 3- and 6-month follow-up compared with CBT for ED alone.

Secondary Hypotheses:

2. Concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD will result in significantly greater improvements in self-reported PTSD symptoms at post-treatment, as well as at 3- and 6-month follow-up compared with CBT for ED alone.

3. Concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD will result in significantly greater improvements in concomitant symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression) at post-treatment, as well as at 3- and 6-month follow-up compared with CBT for ED alone.

Exploratory Research Questions

1. What proportion of participants experience reliable improvement in ED symptomatology and what proportion experience reliable deterioration in ED symptomatology over the course of each treatment?

2. What is the relative efficacy of concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD versus CBT for ED alone in reducing functional deficits at post-treatment, and 3- and 6-month follow-up?

3. What is the relative efficacy of concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD versus CBT for ED alone in improving other concomitant symptoms at post-treatment, and 3- and 6-month follow-up?

METHOD:

Following a course of intensive ED treatment in the inpatient or day hospital ED program at University Health Network (UHN), participants will be randomly assigned to receive either individually-administered: (1) standard CBT for ED alone or (2) concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD. Participants in both conditions will receive 16 sessions. Eleven of the 16 concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD sessions will be 90 minutes long in order to accommodate the administration of CBT for ED and PTSD. Participants in the CBT for ED alone condition will also receive eleven 90-minute sessions in order to control for time in therapy. In the CBT for ED condition, therapists will have more time to cover the ED-related content. Accordingly, both treatments will consist of eleven 90-minute sessions and five 50-minute sessions, with two sessions per week for the first 8 sessions, weekly sessions for the following 6 sessions, and biweekly for the final two sessions.

Participants will be assessed pre-CBT for ED/PTSD and post-CBT for ED/PTSD, as well as 3 and 6 months after treatment. The assessors will be blind to treatment condition, and an intent-to-treat (ITT) approach to data collection and analysis will be adopted. ED and PTSD symptoms will also be assessed on a weekly basis during the study treatments.

STATISTICS:

1. Primary hypothesis: Changes in clinician-rated PTSD symptoms will be analyzed using multilevel modeling, including a random effect for time and fixed effects for therapy condition, time, and the condition by time interaction. Change in PTSD symptoms over time and differences between the conditions over time will be examined. Empirically derived covariates that significantly reduce error variance will be used. Cohen's d effect sizes will be calculated.

2. Secondary hypotheses: Changes in self-reported PTSD symptoms, anxiety, and depresion will be analyzed using multilevel modeling, including a random effect for time and fixed effects for therapy condition, time, and the condition by time interaction. Change in PTSD symptoms, anxiety, and depression over time and differences between the conditions over time will be examined. Empirically derived covariates that significantly reduce error variance will be used. Cohen's d effect sizes will be calculated.

3. The proportion of participants who experience reliable improvement and the proportion who experience reliable deterioration in ED symptomatology in each therapy condition will be calculated using reliable change criteria (Jacobson & Truax, 1991).

4. The proportion of participants meeting diagnostic criteria for PTSD and an eating disorder will be compared between conditions at post-treatment and follow-up.

5. Changes in other concomitant symptoms and functional deficits will be analyzed using multilevel modeling as described above.

Conditions

PostTraumatic Stress Disorder; Eating Disorder

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

CBT for ED only

In this arm, participants will receive CBT for ED following intensive ED treatment (see intervention section for description).

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

CBT for ED

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for eating disorders (ED) is a 16-session individual therapy protocol which will focus on maintaining improvements in eating following intensive treatment, as well as addressing overconcern with weight/shape. Interventions will be adopted from the Enhanced CBT for ED manual.

Concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD

In this arm, participants will receive concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD following intensive treatment. (see intervention section for description).

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The concurrent ED and PTSD intervention will consist of 16 sessions of CBT for both PTSD and for ED (ED interventions described above). CBT for PTSD will be based on interventions in the Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) manual.

Interventions

CBT for ED

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for eating disorders (ED) is a 16-session individual therapy protocol which will focus on maintaining improvements in eating following intensive treatment, as well as addressing overconcern with weight/shape. Interventions will be adopted from the Enhanced CBT for ED manual.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Concurrent CBT for ED and PTSD

The concurrent ED and PTSD intervention will consist of 16 sessions of CBT for both PTSD and for ED (ED interventions described above). CBT for PTSD will be based on interventions in the Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) manual.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

CBT for ED only; CBT for ED and PTSD

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• have had a minimum dose of intensive eating disorder treatment in the Toronto General Hospital Eating Disorder Program, defined as 6 weeks or longer
• have current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) diagnoses of an eating disorder and PTSD
• be on a stable (or no) psychotropic medication regimen for at least 4 weeks

Exclusion Criteria

• current body mass index less than 18.5
• current substance use disorder involving dependence
• current psychosis
• current bipolar episode
• medical treatment or other condition known to influence eating and/or weight
• current participation in another psychosocial treatment for ED or trauma
• current participation in any treatment study for ED or trauma
• has previously received cognitive processing therapy for PTSD

• Minimum Eligible Age: 17 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

University Health Network, Toronto

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Kathryn Trottier

Staff Psychologist

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Kathryn Trottier, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University Health Network, Toronto

Locations

Eating Disorder Program; Toronto General Hospital; University Health Network

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Countries

Canada

References

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Hamblen JL, Schnurr PP, Rosenberg A, Eftekhari A. A guide to the literature on psychotherapy for PTSD. Psychiatric Annals 39(6): 348-354, 2009.

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Watts BV, Schnurr PP, Mayo L, Young-Xu Y, Weeks WB, Friedman MJ. Meta-analysis of the efficacy of treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2013 Jun;74(6):e541-50. doi: 10.4088/JCP.12r08225.

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Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Weathers FW, Litz BT, Keane TM, Palmieri PA, Marx BP, Schnurr PP. The ptsd checklist for dsm-5 (pcl-5). Scale available from the National Center for PTSD at www. ptsd. va. gov. 2013.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

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Lovibond SH, Lovibond PF. Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. (2nd. Ed.) Sydney: Psychology Foundation. 1995.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Fairburn CG, Cooper Z, O'Connor M. The Eating Disorder Examination (EDE 17). Interview available from http://www.credo-oxford.com/pdfs/EDE_17.0D.pdf. 2014.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Fairburn CG, Beglin A. Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q 6.0). In C. G. Fairburn, Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Eating Disorders (pp. 309-313). New York: Guilford. 2008.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Weissman MM, Bothwell S. Assessment of social adjustment by patient self-report. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1976 Sep;33(9):1111-5. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1976.01770090101010.

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PMID: 962494 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

REB# 15-8826-A

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id