P-1137 - Efficacy of specialized incest group psychotherapy in reducing symptoms of PTSD: 5 year follow-up of a randomized trial

Abstract

Objectives Several studies have found that women who have experienced child sexual abuse (CSA) develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) related to their victimization experiences. The current study evaluated the presence of PTSD symptoms five years after discharge among adult women suffering from sequalae from CSA. Methods This randomized prospective 5-year follow-up study included 106 women: 52 assigned to psychodynamic group psychotherapy and 54 assigned to systemic group psychotherapy. PTSD symptoms were evaluated at baseline, discharge and 1 and 5 years after discharge, using the crime-related post-traumatic stress disorder scale (CR-PTSD) from the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). ANOVA was performed using treatment group as a between factor and the four time points as repeated measures. Results PTSD symptoms were significantly reduced during therapy for both groups (P 0.005). No difference in reduction of PTSD symptoms was found between groups at 1 and 5 year follow-up. Conclusions Symptoms of PTSD were reduced in women with a history of CSA participating in both analytic and systemic specialized incest group psychotherapy. Improvement was maintained for both groups at 5-year-follow-up. The trajectories of PTSD symptoms for the two groups differed significantly, however. Implications of the difference in trajectories for treatment planning will be discussed. The findings in the present study stress the importance of long-term follow-up studies in evidence-based research.