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Evaluation ViewAttendees 6

Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders and Disasters
Symposia

Symposium 77 - Enhancing the focus of CBT interventions for trauma to improve outcomes: Innovations in methods and treatment targets

Friday, November 15, 2024
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST
Location: Liberty A, Level 3, Downtown Marriott
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Trauma, Treatment, Transdiagnostic
Level of Familiarity: Basic to moderate
Recommended Readings: Czekierda, Banik, A., Park, C. L., & Luszczynska, A. (2017). Meaning in life and physical health: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review, 11(4), 387–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2017.1327325.,  

Contractor A. A., Brown L. A., Caldas S., Banducci A. N., Taylor D. J., Armour C., Shea M. T. (2018). Posttraumatic stress disorder and positive memories: Clinical considerations. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 58, 22–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.06.007.

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Curtiss, J., Smoller, J., & Pedrelli, P. (in press) Optimizing precision medicine for second-step depression treatment: A machine learning approach. Psychological Medicine.

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Lester, K., Artz, C., Resick, P. A., & Young-Xu, Y. (2010). Impact of race on early treatment termination and outcomes in posttraumatic stress disorder treatment. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 78(4), 480. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019551

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe mental illness that can have widespread, multi-faceted effects (Sayers et al., 2009; Schnurr et al., 2009). Lifetime PTSD prevalence in the U.S. is currently 6.1% (Chou et al., 2016). Despite the establishment of empirically supported interventions for PTSD, as many as 30-50% of patients who receive such treatments retain a diagnosis of PTSD (APA, 2017). On account of the impact of PTSD and trauma- and stress-related disorders, this symposium will cover two areas of innovative research that can help address such suboptimal treatment outcomes: 1) advances in precision medicine and analytical approaches that can help to identify who is most likely to benefit from a given treatment, and 2) novel intervention approaches that address previously underemphasized treatment targets underlying trauma- and stress-related psychopathology.
The first two talks use advanced modeling techniques to predict a variety of important outcomes of existing evidence-based treatments for PTSD - namely cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure.
The first presentation will relay how elastic net machine learning can predict primary and secondary treatment outcomes for patients with PTSD receiving either prolonged exposure (PE) therapy or cognitive processing therapy (CPT) across four clinical trials (N=482). The study will highlight how machine learning can predict distinct outcomes with differential success. The second presentation used a machine learning approach to study whether dropout could be predicted from baseline clinical and demographic variables when modeling White and Black patients separately, and whether predictors were similar across racial groups.

The second two talks focus on novel approaches to treating trauma and stress symptoms that target less commonly addressed processes, namely loneliness and positive affect.
The third presentation will address a new group treatment approach, called meaning-centered group-based CBT (MC-CBT). MC-CBT is a 16 week treatment that helps address themes of loneliness and meaninglessness in individuals who have completed a course of CBT for trauma.
The fourth presentation will share results from a six-session, novel intervention called Positive Processes and Transition to Health (PATH). This treatment is grounded in evidence-based principles that directly target symptoms of PTSD and/or depression following a significant and destabilizing stressor by influencing three key, transdiagnostic processes implicated in the onset, maintenance, and relapse of these disorders. Researchers examined how the addition of positive event reminiscing targets anhedonia and positive affect, which are key features of PTSD and depression, during this brief treatment.
Together these studies will shed light on alternative approaches to traditional CBT for trauma and PTSD, as well as provide information about treatment outcome that will be beneficial for therapists, researchers and patients.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. This program will increase one’s knowledge on gold-standard treatments for trauma, as well as more recently developed and studied treatments.
  2. This program will increase one's understanding and confidence by broadening the way we think about approaching and treating trauma.
  3. Describe group-based CBT and its impact on treating symptoms of loneliness and meaninglessness in those with trauma.
  4. Discuss how positive event reminiscing may improve outcomes for stressor-related disorders in an exposure-based intervention.
  5. Explain how machine learning can contribute to prediction of treatment outcomes for patients with PTSD receiving PE or CPT.
  6. Discuss the impact of patient race on prediction of dropout from trauma-focused treatment.

Presentations:

  • 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST
    (SYM 77) A Precision Medicine Framework for Predicting Response to Evidence Bases Therapies for PTSD: A Machine Learning Approach

    Speaker: Joshua Curtiss, M.A., Ph.D. – Northeastern University

    Co-author: Joseph K. Carpenter, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – VA Boston / National Center for PTSD

    Co-author: Patricia A. Resick, ABPP, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Duke University School of Medicine

    Co-author: Tara Galovski, Ph.D. – VA National Center for PTSD, Boston University School of Medicine

  • 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST
    (SYM 77) How Well Can We Predict Dropout from Trauma-focused Therapy for PTSD? Differences Between Black and White Patients

    Speaker: Joseph K. Carpenter, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – VA Boston / National Center for PTSD

    Co-author: Joshua Curtiss, M.A., Ph.D. – Northeastern University

    Co-author: Patricia A. Resick, ABPP, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Duke University School of Medicine

    Co-author: Tara Galovski, Ph.D. – VA National Center for PTSD, Boston University School of Medicine

  • 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST
    (SYM 77) Meaning-centered CBT Improves Loneliness and Meaning in Individuals with PTSD or Trauma

    Speaker: Danielle Moskow Diamond, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine

    Co-author: Amanda W. Baker, PhD (she/her/hers) – Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical Center

    Co-author: Nicole J. LeBlanc, PhD (she/her/hers) – Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical Center

    Co-author: Benjamin W. Bellet, PhD (he/him/his) – Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

    Co-author: Emily Mintz, B.A. – Massachusetts General Hospital

    Co-author: Jonah N. Cohen, PhD (he/him/his) – Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical Center

  • 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST
    (SYM 77) Targeting Anhedonia and Positive Affect Utilizing Positive Event Reminiscing in Transdiagnostic Treatment for PTSD and Depression Delivered via Telehealth

    Speaker: Kathy Shekhtman, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – NYU Langone Medical Center / Steven A. Cohen Military Family Center

    Co-author: Kathy Shekhtman, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – NYU Langone Medical Center / Steven A. Cohen Military Family Center

    Co-author: Alice E. Coyne, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – American University

    Co-author: Adele M. Hayes, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Delaware

    Co-author: Lori A. Zoellner, Ph.D. – University of Washington

    Co-author: Norah C. Feeny, Ph.D. – Case Western Reserve University