ESTSS2019 Rotterdam flashtalk abstract book

Abstract

Background: A large portion (11–60%) of patients seeking substance use treatment also meet diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Brady et al., 2004), which tends to worsen symptoms and particularly among women (Hien et al., 2005). Objective: This study (Tapia et al., 2018), aimed to examine whether the combined use of schema therapy (ST) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can improve substance use disorder (SUD) outcomes in a sample of women with co-occurring SUD and PTSD. To our knowledge, no research has examined this question in a SUD-PTSD clinical sample. Method: We proposed to 15 women with comorbidity a two-phase-protocol therapy: eight ST sessions associated with EMDR focused on reprocessing traumatic memory (phase A) and eight ST sessions associated with EMDR focused on reprocessing addictive memory (phase B). We evaluated addiction severity, alcohol craving, cannabis craving, PTSD symptoms, number of early maladaptive schemas (EMS) and depressive symptoms before and after treatment. We also designed a one-year follow-up. Results: Findings indicated that eight sessions of ST combined with EMDR focused on traumatic memories (phase A) reduced PTSD symptoms and the number of EMS. Findings on phase B showed a statistically significant decrease for addiction severity and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Overall, this study supports the importance of providing integrative therapies for improving SUD outcomes. The results suggest that ST and EMDR can safely be used among SUD-PTSD women and advocates the potential of such integrative treatment to reduce both SUD and PTSD symptomatology.