Therese Killeen, PhD (Medical University of South Carolina, SC Node), Chanda Brown, PhD, MSW (Charleston Center, SC Node), Aimee Campbell, MSSW (Columbia University School of Social Work, LI Node), Huiping Jiang, PhD (New York State Psychiatric Institute, LI Node), Royce Sampson, MSN, APRN, BC (Medical University of South Carolina, SC Node), Edward V. Nunes, MD (Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, LI Node), Denise A. Hien, PhD (Columbia University School of Social Work, LI Node).

View poster

A substantial number of women who enter substance abuse treatment have a history of trauma and meet criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Fear regarding the extent to which PTSD treatment can evoke negative consequences remains a research question. The NIDA Clinical Trials Network (CTN) recently completed a national multi-site randomized controlled study with 353 women who met criteria for either full or threshold PTSD and a substance use disorder (SUD) (CTN-0015: Women's Treatment for Trauma and Substance Use Disorders). In the study, eligible women who were enrolled in substance abuse treatment received either 12 sessions of Seeking Safety (SS), a PTSD-specific intervention, or 12 sessions of a women's health education intervention (WHE). All women were enrolled in treatment as usual at the community substance abuse programs. Both substance abuse and PTSD outcomes were assessed post intervention at 7 weeks and at 3, 6, and 12 months and participants were monitored on a weekly basis throughout the study intervention for the occurrence of any adverse events (AEs).

Analysis of the results found that 16% of the women reported study-related AEs throughout the study intervention and at the 7 week post-intervention follow-up. There were no significant between-group differences in the number of women who reported AEs (9% for SS, 7% for WHE). The average number of study-related AEs was 1.5 (0.9) for the SS group and 2.0 (1.2) for the WHE group. The most common study-related AEs were worsening of depressive and PTSD symptoms, but differences were not significant between groups. In conclusion, implementing PTSD treatment in substance abuse treatment programs appears to be safe, with minimal impact on intervention-related adverse psychiatric and substance abuse symptoms. (Presentation, PowerPoint Slides, English, 2006)

Keywords: CTN outcomes | Gender-specific interventions | Post-traumatic stress disorder | Seeking Safety program | Trauma | Women | Women's Health Education program | College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) annual meeting, 2007

Document No: 207

Submitted by Therese Killeen, 7/2007.