Comparing Individual Therapies for Veterans With Depression, PTSD, and Panic Disorder
Major Depressive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia
About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Major Depressive Disorder
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Participants must be Veterans
- Participants must be clearly competent to provide informed consent for research participation
- Participants must meet DSM-5 criteria for panic disorder, major depressive disorder, or posttraumatic stress disorder
- Participants must be 18-80 years old
Exclusion Criteria:
- recent history (< 2 months) of psychiatric hospitalization or a suicide attempt as documented in their medical record or reported during clinical interview
- acute, severe illness or medical condition that likely will require hospitalization and/or otherwise interfere with study procedures as documented in their medical record (e.g., active chemotherapy/radiation treatment for cancer),
- recent start of new psychiatric medication (< 4 weeks)
- diagnosis of moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury in their medical record and/or endorsement of screener questionnaire
- additional comorbid psychiatric diagnoses that were not listed as exclusion criteria are permitted as long as they are considered secondary to the principal diagnosis of MDD, PTSD, or PD/AG as determined by the diagnostic interview
- ineligible Veterans will be referred for non-study-related treatments within mental health at the RHJ VAMC
Sites / Locations
- Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Charleston, SCRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Active Comparator
Transdiagnostic Behavior Therapy
Disorder Specific Therapies
TBT was developed to address transdiagnostic avoidance via the use of four different types of exposure techniques (situational/in-vivo, physical/interoceptive, thought/imaginal, and [positive] emotional/behavioral activation). From the transdiagnostic avoidance perspective, the four exposure practices are matched to the type(s) of avoidance experienced by patients based upon their cluster of symptoms/disorders.
To provide an evidence-based comparison for the TBT condition, DSTs will be used that are matched to the participant's most severe diagnosis, based upon the average of the ADIS interference and distress scores. If the scores are equivalent for two or more diagnoses, participants will be asked to list which diagnosis/symptoms that they find most impairing. DSTs will be included for each of the three targeted diagnoses, including PTSD (CPT for PTSD), PD/AG (CBT for PD/AG), and MDD (CBT for MDD). Each of these DSTs have published manuals for administration and have received extensive support in the literature (Barlow, 2014).