Active clinical trials for "Medically Unexplained Symptoms"

The purpose of this pilot study is to compare the effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) plus Medical Care As Usual (MCAU) compared to MCAU for Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders (SSRD). Consenting patients presenting to the emergency department with suspected SSRD will be randomly allocated to receive either 8 weekly individual sessions of ISTDP or to an 8-week wait list followed by ISTDP. MCAU including emergency department and/or family doctor consultation is available throughout trial participation. The primary outcome measure is participant self-reported somatic symptoms at week 8.

The main purpose of the study is to conduct an initial feasibility evaluation of the new Internet-based EAET treatment manual. We will include 50 patients with somatic symptom disorder to take part of the treatment for nine weeks through the Internet. A within-subject design will be used. Self-report measures of symptom level and mechanisms of change will be conducted weekly. Feedback on content, process and potential caveats will be collected using surveys and written evaluations from the participants at post-treatment. Linear mixed models will be used to investigate trajectories of change in symptoms and processes.

The goal of this study is to test the feasibility and acceptability of providing an experiential assessment interview that targets emotional and stressful experiences in primary care. In this randomized, controlled trial, the investigators will compare an interview condition to a wait-list control condition. The investigators hypothesize that helping individuals first identify the links between their stress and symptoms will likely increase their awareness and endorsement of the link between stress and physical symptoms, including a willingness to engage in stress management techniques. It is also expected that helping raise an individual's awareness about their symptoms, followed by an experience and expression of unexpressed emotions is likely to influence their physical symptoms and psychological status.

In this study, a new psychosocial training for social relationships for adults will be evaluated. In a 6-module course, with four 3-day modules and two 5-day modules in the timeframe of one year, participants learn ways to strengthen their personal resources to establish effective social relationships and to develop skills as a social being. In between the module courses, the participants take 5 single sessions with an instructed trainer and document 10 conversations/social situations where they successfully apply the acquired personal and social skills. For my study, I will recruit a total of 200 persons. Approx. one hundred participants for the intervention group and 100 individuals for the control group. During the course of the training, the participants are taught social and personal skills that should result in a lower perceived stress level in daily life, improved health behaviour, a decreased presence of common somatic symptoms, a higher satisfaction with their lives, improved quality of their social relationships and a higher wellbeing. Data from study participants having accomplished additional training programs with the same training provider will be used to evaluate the influence on the results compared to participants without the extra addition for this study. The training participants will be assessed together with the controls. All study participants will be evaluated with standardized online questionnaires.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a new cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) group for individuals with a somatic symptom disorder (i.e., Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders from the DSM-5). Patients with somatic symptom and related disorders are underserved by the medical system. Further, there is currently a paucity of research aimed at evaluating treatments for patients with somatic symptom disorders. The limited existing research literature supports CBT as an efficacious treatment in this population, but a standardized means of modifying CBT for somatic symptom disorders has not been developed, and it is unclear if group CBT is effective. In this study, the investigators will evaluate the effectives of a new six session CBT group designed specifically to address commonly-reported difficulties among individuals with somatic symptom disorders, such as somatic symptoms, psychological distress, and related cognitive interference. This study will allow us to validate a new intervention for somatic symptom disorders, and will help to fill the current void of evidence-supported evaluation and treatment protocols to better serve patients with somatic symptom disorders.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether 3 years after the end of therapy cognitive-behavioral therapy complemented with strategies from emotion regulation training leads to better improvement in somatic symptoms and comorbid problems in patients with chronic multiple somatoform symptoms than cognitive behavioral therapy alone.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a forced isolation context (such provided by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic restrictive measures) could reduce the burden of somatic symptoms among a group of patients with Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD). Secondary objective is to assess if a reduction in terms of depression tendency and anxiety occurs in this specific population and which are the effect of such a context among a group of adolescents without SSD. We want to compare these results with data obtained at the end of the pandemic.

Research has shown that patients with functional somatic symptoms continue to worry about having a serious disease despite medical reassurance from their doctors. This study aims to investigate whether cognitive immunization is a mechanism that underlies the sustained concern about having serious disease. To this end, the use of cognitive immunization strategies will be experimentally modulated after receipt of medical test results.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of internet-based cognitive therapy for severe health anxiety within regular psychiatric care. A longitudinal cohort study will be conducted investigating 400 patients who have received ICBT for severe health anxiety between 2018-2020 in an outpatient psychiatric clinic providing Internet-based treatment. The primary outcome measure will be the Short Health Anxiety Inventory, SHAI, and a within-group design with repeated measures will be used for primary analysis. It is hypothesized that ICBT will be associated with a significant reduction in health anxiety as measured with SHAI, both after treatment and at six-month follow-up.

The objective of this study is to explore the role of neuroticism, perceived stress, and adverse life events, respectively, in the development and perpetuation of functional somatic disorders.